Zig Zag Part III
by ReeseisLAVAhot
Summary: The adventures of John and Elise continue as the mysterious voice heard by John throws their lives into chaos and uncertainty about their future together. Written with my co-author Savhcaro. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

John paused for the briefest of seconds before turning around to face the person behind him.

"Wow John, you look like you've seen a ghost." A smile played across the features of the beautiful dark-haired woman in front of him.

Trying to regain his composure, John spoke quietly. "Well, I suppose I have, though why I'm surprised to see you Kara, is another matter."

"It's been a long time John."

"Not long enough." He spoke harshly. "What is it you want Kara? And make it quick, I have better things to do with my time."

"Oh, you're not still mad at me are you, John?" She said in a teasing tone.

"The point Kara? In one minute or less?"

Stanton pouted at him but finally answered his question. "I'd been following Snow for the past month." Her voice took on a hard edge. "I owe Mark one and I was getting ready to collect when I realized the poor sot he was following this time was you. You can imagine my surprise and delight I might say, to find you alive and well."

"Cut the crap Kara. . ?" His voice rose on the last sentence and Kara looked nervously around to see who was observing them. She noticed the cashier upfront looked like she was growing ears as she tried to overhear what they were saying.

"Keep your voice down!" She hissed. "I'm here because Snow is not far behind me and he's hot on your trail. He has a whole team out scouring the next town over and it's only a matter of time before they find you."

"So you're telling me you are here, out of the goodness of your heart, to warn me that Mark is looking for me? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe but thanks for the warning, now you can go and I don't want to see you around here ever again." John kept his cool but inside he was calculating just how much time he had to get himself and Elise out of here before Snow showed up.

"Well, actually John, I thought you and I might work together and take Snow out so that he won't bother you or that lady friend I saw you with the other day, ever again. You wouldn't want anything to happen to your light-o-love now would you?"

John's blood ran cold. Kara knew about Elise! Just how much, he'd have to find out. He didn't realize it, but his eye took on that cold, shuttered look. He could feel the beast inside him rattle its chains. There was no way he'd let anything or anyone endanger Elise again. If it meant taking out Kara, Snow or the entire team he'd sent, John would do it and not look back.

"What would you know about it Kara? I was your partner for four years remember? I know what you consider a companionship."

Stanton smiled a little rueful, twist of a smile and said, "You wound me John! But it doesn't matter what I think, if Snow had seen what I had seen, he'd take your little, delicate woman out in a second to lure you in. So, how about it? Are you in?"

Damn it! Just what had Kara seen? If she thought that Elise was delicate, she couldn't have seen them working together and he wasn't about to disabuse her of the notion that Elise was some poor helpless girlfriend of his.

"Alright, I'll help you take him out." He spoke angrily. "But just so we're clear here, I don't trust you any more than I trust him and after this is done, I don't want you to ever darken my door again. Understand?"

"Geez John, you're so touchy these days! You know I AM sorry I shot you. I was just following orders."

"Yeah well, I guess it's a good thing for you that I _didn't_."

"Alright already!" She spoke with a bit of heat of her own. "I said I'm sorry. Now let's get outta here. This small town has been giving me the creeps with all these prying eyes and ears." She nodded up front.

"One second. I have a call to make. You can wait…." He stopped as he patted down his pockets and found his phone missing. Damn Kara and damn him for forgetting it! He had no secure way to contact Elise and tell her where he'd gone. He'd have to try and find another way to let her know what was happening and more importantly, that she needed to lay low.

"Never mind, let's go." He spoke with a hard tone. He was walking down the aisle towards the front of the store and wracking his brain on how he could contact Elise without putting her and her location in jeopardy. Suddenly he realized what he could do. As they walked by the young woman cashier, he gave her what Elise had termed as his 'panty dropping smile' in the hopes that she'd remember him. He knew Elise would come looking for him when he didn't come home and he hoped she'd question the woman about what she'd seen happen in the store.  
He realized that Snow also might ask questions about him so he said quickly and angrily to Stanton, "So where are we headed once we get out of this town?" There, if Snow came looking for him, he'd realize that he was no longer here and set out after him and away from Elise.  
Stanton looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, obviously not sure why he was asking right then. "I'll tell you when we're on the road."

They exited the store and John followed Kara to a black Lexus and got in. He prayed that Elise would be safe until he could eliminate the threat to them. He'd just gotten used to the thought of having a normal life with her and he wanted to take care of the problem and return to it and her as quickly as possible.

***************

Slowly rousing from a delicious dream of John's hands and mouth on her body, Elise stretched languidly like a contented cat. Inhaling the salty air flowing through the open door to the deck, a smile creased her face as she remembered where she was. In her house, in her bed...alone. Her eyes popped wide open and she sat up with a start. Looking around franticly for John, she spied the folded note on the bedside table. Reaching over, she snatched it up and quickly unfolded it.

Slowly shaking her head, a smile turned up the corners of her mouth as she read the note. "Wonder what else he's up to?"

Deciding to make use of the time while John was gone, Elise hopped out of the bed and walked to the bathroom and straight to the shower. Turning it on, she let the water heat up. Walking back over to the counter with the dual sinks, she blushed remembering the moment she and John had shared on that very same counter. That had been the beginning of this wonderful time with just the two of them. It was like they were in their own little world, a world they had created, with the help of the house that Harold had given her. Their time together had been perfect, full of love and laughter, delight in being together and learning more about each other, other than their fighting skills and stealth capabilities.

A normal life. That phrase kept coming back to mind, over and over. The happiness she felt with John, the security of knowing he was right there, the comfort she'd found in him, and he in her, was beyond measure. An ideal normal life: to wake up together, work and play together, go to bed together. Even doing everyday things like cooking or walking on the beach or playing pool, things other people took for granted. Elise knew this time would not last forever, that the real world was waiting for them back in NYC. But here, they could 'pretend' they were normal and the dark side of life was kept away.

Seeing the steam rise above the shower stall, Elise turned and walked back to the shower and stepped in. The heat of the shower felt wonderful. Tired muscles relaxed under the pulsing shower and her hair flowed down her back in thick waves. Relishing the privacy of the moment Elise took her time washing her hair and using the body wash that John favored. As her hands rubbed the soap over her breasts and she inhaled the scent she associated with him, she became instantly aroused. Closing her eyes she visualized John's hands on her, just like her dream. Massaging each breast with firm hands and pinching and pulling her nipples she began that dizzying ascent to pleasuring herself. Her right hand continued to play with her nipples while her left hand slowly slid down her belly to the cleft between her legs, imagining John's beautiful hands with his strong fingers parting her folds and finding her clit, she moaned. By now she was in the thrall of the moment. Her body responded and clenched deep within. Cupping herself with her left hand, she used her middle finger to rub her clit round and round until her legs began to tremble. Her breathing became labored as she closed in on her climax. The orgasm rolled through her as she gasped out John's name, and she came with a shuddering intensity that surprised her. Placing both hands against the shower wall, she hung her head.

********************

John sat quietly in the car next to Stanton as she drove south towards NYC and contemplated the situation. First, he needed to ascertain just how much she knew about Elise. Once he was sure in the knowledge that Stanton posed no threat to her, he could then focus on eliminating Snow.

"So, how long did you say you've been following me?" He asked Stanton and watched her reaction closely. He had very good instincts when it came to telling when people were telling him lies and he knew that Stanton would be trying very hard not to give too much away, but he knew her well and knew what signs to watch for.

"About a month, give or take. I had to keep Snow under stricter watch. Why? What is it you're worried I saw John?" She gave him a leering look. "Maybe you and that little dark-haired woman are getting it on? How is it you don't break her every time you have sex John? Or are you just looking for an excuse to dump her and this is it?"

John had never wanted to hit a woman in his life…until now. Unfortunately, he had to control the urge so that Kara wouldn't know how much Elise meant to him. Instead he had to content himself with these words, "I'm glad my love life is so interesting to you Kara but I'm very annoyed to find out that you're talking about me and sex in the same sentence. VERY annoyed."

"Oh keep your pants on John. Look, I'm sorry I said anything about it. I'm sure she's a very nice person though I have a hard time believing that you'd put another woman in danger like that. When Snow finds out…"She let her voice trail off for a second and then spoke again. "I told you to stay away from Jessica for just that reason. Did you forget everything I've taught you John?"

"Jessica DIED because of what you taught me Kara!" He yelled. "I stayed away just like you said I should and Peter… he killed her…."He lowered his voice almost to a whisper, "and I wasn't there for her."

Stanton looked over at him and said quietly, "I'm sorry to hear she's dead John. I know you still loved her."

Silence descended on the car. While he would have preferred to tell Stanton where she could stick her sympathy, he knew he could afford to do it.

"So, how did you get out of Ordos?" He asked.

"Well, you remember those dissidents that we stayed with the week before the mission? That old couple, what were their names? The Zhangs?" She asked.

His jaw clenched but she failed to see it. "Yes."

"I went back to their place and hid out for a day or two but someone must have seen me there. I saw them get arrested just before I was ready to head out. The government goons shot the wife, severely beat the husband and torched the place. I got out of there just in time."

"And you never thought to go back and check on the husband? Never thought to help him after he'd helped you?" John asked in a low, deadly voice.

Stanton just shrugged. "I wasn't in a position to help him and he knew the risks when he took us in. Anyway, why are you so angry?"

"Because I was the one who picked up the pieces of your mess! I found Han in the gutter, beaten within an inch of his life. I took him to a safe place while we both healed enough to travel yet he would never tell me what had happened to him, not even when we realized he was blind! Damn you Kara! You only think about yourself and your goals, what YOU want!"

"What are you criticizing me about? You're the exact same way. I know, I trained you to be! That's what you have to do to stay alive in this business!"

"You just don't get it, do you Kara?" He shook his head. "Well, that's not who I am now. I've moved past that hard, cold man filled with self-loathing and I won't be going back there again so you can forget about getting any ideas of us working together after we take care of Snow."

"Sure John, I don't believe it for a second, it's too much a part of who you are, but whatever. Let's just take care of Snow right now."

John sat quietly in the seat and contemplated her words. Was she right? Had he _really_ moved beyond that man who killed without emotion where and when he was told?

*************************

As her breathing slowly returned to normal, Elise shook her head side to side. That was a new experience for her. Just THINKING of John sent her into a world of pleasure. Slowly smiling to herself she thought, 'Not that that was a bad thing'.

Turning off the water, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel and began drying herself off. 'That was nice, but I need John.' She thought to herself. Walking out into the bedroom she went around the bed to the bedside table and picked up his note again. Being the detailed man that he was, John had noted the time he'd left. It had been over an hour.  
'Hmm, wonder what's taking so long? He'd just gone to get dog food after all! I need him...now!' Mused Elise. Picking up her cell phone she started to call him but then changed her mind. Hopping onto the bed, she pulled the towel from around herself and sat at the head of the bed. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she held the camera phone out in front of her. Resting her chin on her knees, she smiled, what she hoped was her most provocative smile and took her own picture. Checking the result in the phone, she was quite pleased. Her hair was in disarray around her shoulders and back and her knees blocked the view of her 'assets' but it was quite obvious she was naked.

Giggling to herself she sent it as a text to John's phone. 'That should get him speeding home to me!'

Putting down the phone she went to get dressed. Walking into the closet she was still amazed at how well Harold, really Grace, knew her. The colors and simple style of the clothes were perfect for her. Knowing John liked her in blue, she grabbed a soft pullover and a pair of jeans. Seeing some black, heeled boots in the corner, she couldn't resist trying them on and they fit perfectly of course, just like everything in this closet.

Coming out of the closet, she went back into the bathroom and found a hairbrush. Brushing her hair out after the shower felt so good and relaxing. Pulling it back into a ponytail, she stared at herself in the mirror. The woman smiling back at her was a happy woman. It showed in her eyes, in her smile, in everything about her. These days with John with no worries, no stress, no numbers had been wonderful. This is what their life could be. Sighing deeply she put down the brush and walked out of the bathroom.

Checking her phone she was surprised she hadn't gotten a return text from John. She just knew that picture would surprise him and that he'd call or text her back immediately. Frowning slightly, she dialed his number and waited for him to answer. Standing in the upstairs room she could hear a distant ringing. Pulling the phone from her ear she stared at it, to verify she was indeed calling John. But there was no answer and the ringing from downstairs continued.

Walking quickly to the steps, she hurried down to the first floor with the phone still calling in her hand. When she got to the bottom landing she could clearly hear John's phone ringing. There on the island in the middle of the kitchen….John had mistakenly left his phone home.

'Damn! He never leaves his phone', grimaced Elise. He must have had something else on his mind. Her sexy picture was wasted! Oh well, she'd give him a little bit longer to get home before she got concerned.

*************************

"So, what exactly is the plan here? How are we going to take Mark out?" John asked as they approached closer to the city.

"We need to find a place where we can trap him and then take him down. You've always been better than me with a sniper rifle. You'll need to be the shooter."

"So that's the big plan? You really think that Mark is going to just walk into a trap willingly?" John shook his head. "Wow Kara, you've gotten really rusty in your old age."

"Ok hot shot, what's your idea then?" Stanton asked in an irritated voice.

"Think, why does Mark want us dead?"

"Because of Ordos. Because of what we saw there and might have learned."

"Right. And he would want to avoid having any of that come to light, he'd probably do _anything _to avoid that."

"Ah," Stanton said, nodding her head. "So how do we make that happen?"

"Well we need to somehow convince Mark that we know more than we do. We need to pretend to know the significance of what happened in Ordos. Since the mission was all about some laptop, we can assume that on that laptop was information the government doesn't want brought to light. So the first step is going to be to locate and infiltrate some of the NOC offices and companies that help the CIA get it's information here in NYC. Mark will think we are acting on the information from the laptop or from something else we found in Ordos."

"That sounds like a good plan to me. And I think I know just where we should start." Stanton said with obvious eagerness. She turned and looked out the car window away from John, so that he wouldn't see the self-satisfied smirk that she was trying to hide. John had done exactly what she'd expected him to.

*********************************

Trying to keep busy as she waited for John, she poured the last cup of coffee into the cup he'd left out for her then rinsed the coffee pot as well as his cup and put them in the drain board.

Almost tripping over the dog, Elise was reminded of their new house guest. Sitting there in front of her, looking expectant...she realized he was probably hungry. Checking in the pantry and the cabinets she realized there was no food left that a dog would eat. Scratching the dog behind the ears she said "He'll bring you back something to eat soon Bear. He's good at taking care of people and um, animals too. " Bear wagged his tail but kept looking at her expectantly.

"Come on, let's go wait out on the deck for John to come back." Bear followed her out onto the deck and jumped up on the lounge he'd already claimed as his own.

The view from the deck was picture perfect: The ocean could be seen over the dunes, the white caps crashing on the beach, the breeze gently blew her hair out of her face and the blue sky was cloudless. Sipping her coffee Elise felt the warmth of the sun on her and she was lost in the view. Harold really had listened to her ramblings about her desire for a home on the beach. Her house, her home, all she needed now was her man. Glancing down at her watch she was surprised to see that an hour had gone by since she'd realized that John had left his phone. That meant he'd been gone for over two hours from the time he left her the note.

Something was not right. This was out of character for John to be gone this long and not contact her. Yes, he forgot his phone, but he would have borrowed a phone to at least call her. Walking back into the bungalow, she went through the kitchen to put her coffee cup in the sink and quickly made her way upstairs with the dog right behind her. Picking up the note from John again, she checked the time he'd written down. The time was definitely over two and a half hours ago! Now she knew something was wrong. He would never have been gone this long without contacting her. Reaching for her gun on the nightstand, she walked into the closet and grabbed the leather jacket she'd worn on the bike. Going back through the kitchen she grabbed John's phone and made sure hers was in her pocket.

Looking at Bear, she knew she couldn't leave him here. He'd have to come with her. Walking out of the kitchen to the garage she was glad to see that John had taken the bike and left the car. Again looking at the dog, she was worried about him riding in the John's car. Love the dog or not, John would not be happy about claw marks or even holes in his leather seats. Looking around she found a thick tarp and laid it on the passenger seat of the car. The dog jumped in as if he'd always ridden shotgun.

Smiling to herself, Elise walked around and got in the driver's seat. Sliding into the seat Elise almost laughed out loud. Her feet didn't even reach the pedals! John, with his long legs, had the seat pushed back to the max. Using the power seat button Elise almost had to bring the seat to the closest setting to be comfortable. Checking out all the bells and whistles they had played with on the drive here, how many nights ago?, Elise paused to think. They had spent three glorious nights together here, away from the world. Please don't let it end badly...

John had left the keys in the ignition, thank goodness. Turning the key, the powerful engine roared to life. Letting it warm up, Elise finished the other adjustments to make the car suitable for her to drive. Laying her gun on the console by the gear shift she was ready to go find John.

Putting the car in gear, Elise slowly let off the clutch and the car backed out of the garage. Once clear of the door, the automatic sensor lowered the door and sealed itself. Driving down the long, twisty driveway Elise got a feel for the response of the car. It drove like a dream…German engineering at its finest. Slowly easing out, she was able to verify there were no cars on the road so she was safe to pull out of the 'hidden' driveway.

Once on the highway, Elise quickly put the powerful machine through its paces. Smoothly changing gears, she was up to 100 mph before she knew it. Backing off the speed until she was legal, she tried to rein in her apprehension. No need to attract the attention of the police…at least not yet.

Bear sat in the passenger seat, looking like he was born to ride. He was a big dog and his head was actually higher than Elise's. Reaching over she scratched him behind the ears and said, "Glad to have you with me Bear. I may need you to help track down John."

Even driving at the posted speed limit, it didn't take long to reach the outskirts of the town. Since it was off season, there were not many people around. Driving slowly down the main road, Elise felt conspicuous in the black Porsche. It probably fit in during the summer months but during off season she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb.

Looking for a grocery store she finally spotted one a couple of blocks away. Driving up to it she was relieved to see John's bike parked in the front, the helmet hanging on the handlebars. Pulling up next to it, she turned off the car. Looking over at Bear she said "You gotta stay here boy, I'll be right back, hopefully with John." Bear whined but stayed put in the car.

Opening the car door, she looked around, expecting John to come walking up, grinning from ear to ear and full of some bullshit story about why he hadn't called her. But he was nowhere to be seen. Walking into the grocery store she realized how small it was. It only had about ten aisles and two registers. Walking up and down the aisles, it took less than two minutes to determine that John was not here.

Elise walked back to the front and looked around, trying to assess the situation. At first she thought there were no helpful security cameras, only two people in the store. There was a female cashier and there also someone in the customer service booth but she couldn't see them in the raised area. Figuring that a female would remember John better than a man, she headed over to the cashier.

As she got closer, she noticed there were indeed small, outdated cameras in the customer service area and near the cashier's area. Elise thought she'd better get some human intel before relying on those ancient devices. "Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me?' smiled Elise.

"Why sure honey, what do you ya need?" The red-headed cashier smiled back.

"I'm looking for my friend. I think he came in here a couple of hours ago and maybe bought some dog food? Tall, good looking man with salt and pepper hair?"

The cashier smiled a wide grin. "Oh yeah, I remember him, very nice looking fella. And he did ask about the dog food."

"That's him. Do you know where he went? I was expecting him home over an hour ago." Elise worked hard not to sound frantic, to remain calm and in control. "I'd really appreciate any help you could give me."

"Hmm. I remember him bein' in here and I seem to remember him carrying a bag of dog food over one shoulder..." Mused the cashier. "Then I remember he was talking to that woman."

"Woman? What woman, what did she look like?" Elise was having a hard time trying to keep from screaming at the cashier to tell her everything. "Can you describe her?"

The cashier gave Elise a look of sympathy, no doubt thinking that Elise was about to find out she was being cheated on. "Well, she was a sight taller than you, had long wavy dark hair. She's been hanging around town for the last couple of days. We don't get many strangers here during off season, so you kinda had to notice her."

Taking a deep breath and holding it, Elise processed what the woman had told her. John had met the woman here. Did she find John or did John come into town to specifically meet her?

"Did he seem surprised to see her or was he expecting her?" She pressed the cashier for more details.

"Oh I think she surprised him alright. He just stood there staring at her with his jaw on the floor. Not that I was paying really close attention or anything, we're just a small town after all and well…." The woman blushed. "We don't get many guys in here looking as good as yer man, if you'll pardon me saying so."

Elise finally exhaled. The woman was a surprise to John, not someone he expected to meet. "Did they leave together?" She was almost afraid of what the answer would be.

"Yep, they sure did. Walked out kinda fast after chit-chatting in the back of the store. From what I could tell, their conversation got kinda heated. I remember yer man was not happy. Whatever that hussy said, he didn't like it. Not one little bit."

Elise couldn't help but smile for a second as the cashier had obviously decided to take her side. "Why do you say that? Could you hear them?"

"No, they was talking too soft, but I'm pretty good at reading body language and he surely was angry. His hands were clenched and he was speakin' a bit loud and harsh. Was kinda glad they left the store before he did something."

"How long ago did they leave?" questioned Elise, meanwhile a million different scenarios were tumbling around in her head.

"They left about an hour or so ago? I'm not real sure." answered the cashier. Looking at Elise she wasn't quite sure how the young woman was calmly handling the fact that her man had left with another woman.

"Did you see what kind of car they left in by chance?" Asked Elise hopefully.

Wrinkling her forehead, the cashier thought for a moment, "I think I saw them get into a big black car. I do remember that she got into the driver's seat."

"Thank you. You've been a big help." Smiled Elise. The cashier noticed that the smile didn't reach her eyes. The look in those dark blue eyes was icy and made her almost shiver. She didn't envy either the woman OR the man when this one caught up with them.

Walking back to the car, Elise knew she needed help and needed it fast. Reaching into her back pocket she pulled out her phone, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and dialed Harold.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry folks, it appears I was suffering from premature publishing disorder (DOH!) when I posted our chapter 2 because there were huge junks I forgot to put in before John wakes up the next morning. So, I've added some of them and the rest will appear in chapter 3 along with continuation of the story from John's perspective. **

**Chapter 2**

"I discovered this place by accident." Stanton explained. "Mark kept coming back to this building over and over again and then I'd lose the signal. At first I thought it was the bug. I planted two more on him before I finally realized that this place was a NOC."

"Alright, so we need to pretend we are trying to get in there and make as much 'noise' doing it as possible. I'm assuming you have some decent firepower?" Stanton just gave him a look.

"Well then, here goes." He said, opening the car door. Stanton then opened the trunk and they both armed themselves.

"I think this little baby ought to get Mark's attention." She said, grabbing a grenade.

"Kara, are you crazy? We want to let him know we were here, we don't want to blow the whole damn building!" He grabbed the grenade out of her hand, expecting a fight and sure enough he got one. She suddenly swept his legs out from under him and he rolled backwards, bouncing back up on his feet.

"I'm the one calling the shots here remember? Now, I don't care who you think you are now, but I need John the killer back or we aren't gonna make it outta here." She said, bitingly.

"That man is long gone Kara. The sooner you accept that, the easier and quicker we can get this thing done." He answered coldly. "Now let's just do this thing. WITHOUT a grenade."

"Fine, have it your way." She retorted and threw the grenade in the trunk. He winced as he imagined what would happen if it had gone off. Kara was so damn reckless!

They proceeded to enter the building, concealing their weapons under their coats until the very last minute. As they approached the office that was the cover for the NOC, John aimed at the bottom of the class wall in front of it and fired. The shots and the breaking glass were deafening in the small space of the entry way. Four armed men burst out of a door to the right. John took out two of them in quick succession by kneecapping them and Kara took out the other two. It wasn't until he got closer to them did he notice that she'd shot them in the chest, a kill shot. Damn her! He wasn't here to kill innocent people, he just wanted to take out Snow in this kill or be killed dilemma he found himself in.

Rounding a corner, John made sure to shoot up a bunch of computer screens that were taking up most of one wall. He then pushed over two filing cabinets, spilling their contents all over the floor. He tried to signal Kara that they had done enough here, but she just took out two more armed guards as they approached.

"Kara!" He yelled during a break in the gunfire and signaled for her to exit the area. She frowned at him but started backing out. Once they made it out of the office, they quickly ran down the stairs and exited the building. Glancing at the clock on the dash as he got into the car, he saw only twenty minutes had elapsed. They may not have worked together as a team in quite some time, but the routine had all come back apparently.

"Why the hell did you kill those guys Kara?" He practically yelled.

"Why the hell didn't you? I taught you better than that. You never leave an enemy alive to shoot you in the back!" She yelled back.

"Those men weren't enemies Kara and this isn't like old times. We aren't on a 'dark' mission here. Those men had families, were sons and husbands and fathers! And you just changed all those people's lives in an instant without even thinking!" John gave her a look of disgust and turned away. He was silent as they drove to a small hotel for the night. Not for the first time, he wondered what had possessed him to ever agree to work with this cold-hearted woman.

On the second ring, Harold's surprised voice came over the phone. "Why hello, Ms. Tate. I didn't expect….." Elise cut him off, allowing her business tone of voice relay the seriousness of her call,

"Harold, I need the security camera feed from a store in Darien ASAP."

"What? Why...never mind. What is the name of the store?" Harold also dropped into business mode. He knew Elise would tell him what was going on when she could. He also recognized the lack of 'small talk' from Elise was very troubling.

Typing the name of the grocery store into the computer, Finch began to work his magic and infiltrate the security camera. "What are the parameters?" asked Finch.

"Last two hours, customer service cam feed and front register feed." Elise's voice was calm, almost too calm. Warning bells were going off in Finch's head as he began watching the feeds play across his monitor.

"What am I looking for...Oh, I see him." Tapping a few codes into the computer, the grainy video cleared up noticeably; the footage had obviously been taken by a very old VHS type camera and only converted to digital within the security office. Then, watching John and a woman who most definitely was NOT Elise, walk out of the store together made Harold sit back in his chair.

"Harold, are you there? Harold?" Elise's voice sounded strained over the phone. "What do you see? Is he with a woman?"

Sighing deeply Harold was surprised to realize that he'd been holding his breath. Thankfully Elise seemed to know John was with a woman. He would have dreaded having to tell her that despite the fact that they both knew John was not the cheating kind. Now his concern was to find out WHO that woman was.

"Yes Elise, I see her. She's about 5'7" with long dark, wavy hair. Slim build. I don't know who she is but I'll run the facial recognition software on her and I should have a name shortly." Harold answered in clipped tones.

"I'll be back in the city in about two hours. I need to know who she is and why John would leave with her..."

There was a long enough pause that Harold asked "Elise, are you still there?"

"Why would John leave with her and not call me to tell me?" The phone went dead as if she couldn't bear the answer.

The walk from the grocery store to John's car...and bike, felt like it took forever. Standing there, staring at the helmet hanging from the handlebars, Elise could feel something welling up inside, making it difficult for her to breathe. She realized she was hearing Bear whining from inside the car. Grabbing the helmet off the bike, she opened the door to the car and got in.

Holding the helmet in front of her and balancing it on the steering wheel, Elise stared into the visor. One hand slowly rubbed the top from front to back, almost as if she was touching him. Leaning her head down until her forehead rested on the top of the helmet, she gave into the emotions that were drowning her. A soundless scream echoed in her head. A single sob escaped. Raising her head, she hugged the helmet to her chest and tears silently ran down her cheeks.

Sensing her distress, Bear leaned over and sniffed and licked the tears from her cheek. His touch brought her back from the beckoning abyss. Reaching up and scratching him behind his ears, she gave him a shaky smile "We'll get him back Bear, I promise."

Throwing the helmet to the back, Elise started up the car. Wiping all evidence of the tears from her face, her eyes took on a cold, deadly glint. Blue eyes were shuttered and emotion was locked away. Her mind clicked into high gear running through different scenarios about what may have happened. So much depended on what Harold could find out about that woman. What caused her the most concern was the seriousness of what this woman represented. For John to leave and not call her or contact her in any way, spoke volumes. The only secrets they'd had between them were the full details of John's past with the CIA. She knew about his time in Delta Force but he always seemed to shy away from any discussion about his time in the CIA.

As her mind sorted through the lack of information about that time in his life, the more certain she became that this woman was from those dark days.

They arrived at the hotel where Stanton had holed up for the last few days.

"We'll have to move again tomorrow but this should be good for tonight." She told him, unlocking the door. The minute they were inside, Stanton grabbed him by the throat and pushed him off balance as he was stepping away from her, causing him to fall into the wall with a thud that knocked the wind out of him. She was on him in a second, her lips connecting with his as she gave him a passionate and bruising kiss. John cursed himself for not anticipating it. Kara always got turned on after a job. He regained his equilibrium and pushed her away. She grabbed a hold of his shirt as she fell and they both ended up on the bed. She rolled him over and he rolled her back.

"Stop it Kara! This is NOT going to happen. We were done years ago." He bellowed, pushing her off him as she moved to straddle him.

"Aw, come on John, just once more for old time's sake. You and I used to be so good together." She tried to climb back on but he'd already gotten halfway sitting up.

"No! And for the record we were _not_ good together. You took what you wanted….To you I was a quick fuck and that's it."

"You never had a problem with that before John. Why now? We both need a release, so why are you denying it?"

John wished he could tell her the truth; that he'd been shown there was something better out there for him…..someONE better, who'd taken him as he was, emotional and physical scars be damned. But he knew if he mentioned what Elise meant to him, he'd be putting her in danger.

"Just get away from me Kara. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!"

"Fuck you John. I'm sick of this crap, you may think you've changed but I know you better than that. I know the real you, the guy who assassinated his targets over and over again. For years! No matter how much you try to deny it, you're a killer and you'll _always_ be a killer."

John's face was a blank mask but part of him knew she was right. He had so much blood on his hands, there was no way he'd ever be able to make up for it. But that didn't mean he shouldn't try, that he should resign himself to the outer darkness as Kara had.

So he said, quietly and firmly, "You and I Kara, were a mistake. We should never have let it happen." He walked over to the nightstand, saying "I'm going to call the front desk and get another room."

"Keep telling yourself that John, maybe someday you'll convince yourself." She said bitterly and sat on the bed watching as he called the front desk.

The government firewalls the CIA employed were no match for the Harold's hacking skills. Going straight to the CIA data banks, he used a sophisticated facial recognition software that he'd created to find a match. Since the only serious, deadly and secret part of John's life was the CIA, it seemed reasonable to start his search there. He knew that that part of John's life still had a strangle-hold on him. He also knew that the _only_ thing that could pull John away from Elise would be something from that terrible time.

Within ten minutes the program had found a match. Kara Stanton. Taking his hands off the keyboard, Harold dropped them into his lap. A frown appeared on his face. Kara Stanton? But she was dead; she died after shooting Reese in Ordos. Placing his hands on the keyboard again, he leaned towards the monitor to study her face. That most certainly was the woman in the video with John. But how was she alive? And how did the Machine not know she was a threat to John?

To say he was concerned was an understatement. This was most unusual. This had never happened before. Sliding into 'admin' mode, he questioned The Machine about Kara Stanton and her whereabouts after Ordos. Information popped up on his monitor immediately. Information he had not seen before. He'd been following John Reese for quite some time before that fateful mission to Ordos. He knew John had been shot by Stanton on that mission; he knew he'd escaped but badly wounded. And then of course there was his subsequent rescue of Mr. Zhang. But nothing had come to light about Stanton so he'd assumed, apparently incorrectly, that she'd been killed in the firebombing she had called down on herself.

Following a hunch, Harold typed 'Kara Stanton, asset' and hit enter. Coded information began streaming across his monitor. Adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, Harold began to read and discovered that Stanton had suddenly 'dropped off the grid' after Ordos. How was that even possible? His Machine saw EVERYthing. What else might The Machine have missed? This was simply inconceivable!

However, a more pressing matter would have to take precedence over investigating the anomaly. Returning to the matter at hand, Harold continued to read the information on Stanton until it ceased right after Ordos. No visuals, no emails, no security camera videos, nothing. It was like she had fallen off the edge of the world. What happened after to Stanton after that fateful mission is what Harold felt was the clue as to why she had contacted John now. He realized he needed quicker access to government files than he was currently able to take time for through his hacking skills. It seemed it was time to call Carter in on this in her new capacity as FBI liaison with the NYPD.

"Hello Detective Carter." Harold's not so calm voice came over the phone.

"Harold! So good to hear your voice! Is everything ok? You sound worried. Is it John? Elise or Grace?"

Taking a deep breath, Harold tried to control his rising concern about John's abduction. "Detective, John does appear to be in a spot of trouble and I need your assistance and your access to government records. I think you will be able to find out specific information faster than I can hack it due to your current position within the FBI."

"You know I'll do what I can for you. What do you need my help with?" Carter asked; every sense on high alert. It must be bad if Harold was coming to HER for help.

"I'm going to send you a security camera feed of the woman who kidnapped John. I already know her name..." Carter sputtered and interrupted Harold, "John was kidnapped by a woman? Are you kidding me? And Elise let it happen?"

Once again Harold had to take a deep breath and work to remain calm. "Yes Detective, a woman kidnapped John, but not just any woman. She is Kara Stanton, John's old partner in the CIA. And to answer your question, Elise was not with him. So, I need to know what information, if any, the FBI has on Stanton."

Clicking on the video link that Harold sent, Carter saw a very casually dressed John in a grocery store. How domestic he looked! And so normal! But Carter's musings were cut short when a woman with the long, wavy dark hair approached John. Frowning slightly, Carter leaned toward the monitor and watched John and the woman. John's body language screamed barely controlled rage, something Carter had only seen in Reese in situations where Elise's safety was a concern. The woman seemed overly friendly and smiled too much to be truly sincere in whatever she was saying. Carter got the distinct impression that if they hadn't been in a public place John would have physically attacked the woman.

"Who did you say this woman was?" She asked.

"Kara Stanton, John's ex-partner in the CIA," came the quick answer. Finch was already working on trying to gather more information.

"She worked with John and with Mark Snow?" asked Carter.

"Yes Detective, they were a team. Why are you asking?" She now had Finch's undivided attention.

"This may be the woman that Mark Snow was talking about."

"Talking about? Detective, when did you talk to Mark Snow last?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought John would have already told you about the close call I had with Snow and a woman shooter." She told him.

Her reply with met with silence from the other end. "Harold? Are you still there?" asked Carter when the silence became too long.

"Yes Detective I'm still here. It seems that Mr. Reese neglected to mention that you had talked to Agent Snow or that you'd told him about the meeting." Replied Finch. "How long ago was this?"

"About 2 weeks ago. Why do you think he didn't tell you?" Carter's tone had a definite worried sound to it now.

"I have no idea Detective, but I'm sure John had his reasons. Although I wish he _had_ told me. I was under the apparent misconception that Kara Stanton was killed two years ago in Ordos." Explained Harold. "I do wish he had told me, we could have been a bit more prepared for her eventual re- appearance. From all previous information I can find, Kara Stanton is a formidable woman and not to be taken lightly."

"So the woman who took John is his formerly dead partner from his time in the CIA? That doesn't sound good. How is Elise handling this? We need to get ahead of this as quickly as possible."

"I'm not really sure. She and I have only spoken for a total of ten minutes after she discovered he was missing. She should be back in NYC within the next two hours. Can you get me any information in the FBI data base on Kara Stanton and her possible whereabouts? We need to know just who we are up against and what her motivation is in capturing John."

Carter leaned in even closer, trying to memorize the woman's face and her movements. So THIS was the 'she' was that Snow had spoken about and that John had told her a little about at the diner the next day. Apparently John had not told Harold or Elise about their meeting at the diner, though. She wondered why. Why keep two of the most important people in his life in the dark about a possible danger?

Hanging up the phone after talking to Finch, Carter typed in her password and waited for the security checks to verify. Her curiosity about this woman who used to work with John was matched only by her puzzlement about the fact that John had not told Harold or Elise about her run-in with Snow...and the woman. John always had a reason for doing or not doing something, he seldom left any detail unfinished; but to not tell Harold and Elise...there was something dark here, something very, very dark...she could almost feel it.

As her security check cleared she immediately began trying to gather information about Kara Stanton. After wading through even more security checks to get access to shared info from various law enforcement and military sources, she was finally able to access some additional information. It appeared that this Stanton woman had been in the Marines before the CIA. She was a decorated veteran with deployments all over the world in some of the most intense hotspots. Reading the commendations from her superiors, Carter was impressed with the dedication Stanton showed to her job, her country and her fellow Marines. Carter could easily see how she'd come to be noticed and sought after by the CIA. Information after she left the Marines and joined the CIA became sketchy, as was the norm when working for 'The Company'. But the FBI had its ways, so there was at least some information.

The information was kept pretty current right up until a mission in Ordos in 2010. Reading the spotty information, Carter was able to ascertain that Stanton was MIA and assumed dead. Her body was never found after bombardment by friendlies while on a Black Op. After that though, nothing.

Sitting back in her chair, Carter frowned and started drumming her fingers. What felt familiar about these dates? Why did Ordos sound familiar? It had to be because of John. If he and Stanton had indeed been partners, then this might have been where they parted ways. Carter knew very little about John's time within the CIA but she knew the dates sounded right.

Sending an inquiry for more information, she got an immediate reply to refer any further inquiries to Special Agent Donnelly. THAT caught Carter completely off guard. Donnelly was still after the 'man in the suit'...when did he become interested in Stanton? Had Donnelly been able to connect Reese to Stanton?

John hung up the phone harder than necessary due to his frustration. There were no more vacant rooms in the hotel. It appeared there was some sort of convention, something called Comic-Con the kid at the front desk had told him excitedly, going on in the building across the street. So, he found himself stuck in this hotel room with a woman he trusted not at all.

Getting up with a sigh, John grabbed a chair from the small table in the room and carried it towards the bathroom.

"What are you doing John?" Kara asked puzzled.

"I'm going to sleep in the tub."

"Are you kidding me with this? Just sleep in the bed here. I promise to keep my hands to myself."

"Thanks for the offer." He said with a bit of sarcasm. "But I've slept in tubs before Kara. Now, good night."

"Suit yourself." She answered, reaching back to unzip her dress.

John grabbed the extra blankets from the bed and was in the bathroom before her dress hit the floor. He propped the chair under the door handle so that he'd hear it if Stanton tried to get in. He folded as much of his large frame as would fit into the tub and propped his head up against a pillow. It wasn't the most comfortable of sleeping positions but it was a sight better than waking up wearing a bomb jacket like Mark. As he lay there, he couldn't help but think of Elise. Where was she now? What was she doing? It was hard to believe that just this morning he'd woken up to her sleeping beside him. They'd made love several times and it seemed as if they could take on the world together. But now he was sleeping in a cold, hard bathtub and wondering to himself how much of what Kara had said about him was the truth.

Roaring out of town and heading back to her beach house, Elise had to make herself slow down. Getting stopped by the local police would not help her right now. Her mind was already back in NYC trying to piece together anything John may have mentioned about this unknown woman. At least unknown to _her _but obviously not to John, she contemplated_._ He'd told her very little about his time in the CIA, yet he'd told her quite a bit about his time in the army, as a member of Delta Force. Probably told her more than he should have. But he always seemed to side step anything that had to do with 'The Company'. Could it be that this woman was from one of those times in his life?

Becoming more frustrated by the minute by the lack of info John had shared, Elise found herself pushing the accelerator down harder. The Porsche grabbed the road and picked up speed quickly. Feeling the power of the engine helped satisfy her need to hurry, to do something. Once out of the city limits, on the two lane blacktop, she let the car fly down the road. Using the GPS, she was able to locate the 'hidden' driveway and turned in. The twisty driveway, which had seemed so beautiful before now, seemed to take forever in taking her back to the house. Parking the car outside, she de-activated the alarm system and ran into the house with Bear close at her heels. Taking the lead, Bear quickly checked the premises for John while at the same time checking for strangers. Not finding John, Bear went in search of Elise.

Finding her upstairs Bear stayed by the door, sensing her anxiety. Elise packed one small bag and was ready to go. Thankful that she had already 'cleaned up' the house while waiting for John to return, there was little she had to do except close up. She'd been so pleased with herself when she tidied up everything. John was always after her to pick up after herself and put things away when they were in his loft. The thought almost brought on a fresh spate of tears but she took a deep breath and locked it inside.

Locking the doors to the deck and walking back downstairs, she walked out on the porch. Her time alone here with John seemed so short...3 days...all they'd had together was THREE DAYS! It was so wrong! So unfair! They'd been through so much together and now it was being torn away by that woman! John was hers, he belonged to her and no damn ghost from the past was going to take him away from her!

Turning on her heel she walked back into the house and locked the door behind her. Closing the blinds on all the windows, she gathered up her bag and walked out the front door without looking back, thinking that this was just a house, not a home, without John.

Elise barely remembered the drive back to NYC. Her mind was in turmoil, going back and forth between barely contained anger and barely contained despair, two emotions that were not helping the matter at hand...finding John...and that woman. Resisting the urge to call Harold, she talked to Bear who was a very good listener. Telling him things that she wouldn't or couldn't tell Harold about how she felt about John. It felt good to put into actual words how much he'd come to mean to her and what a difference he'd made in her life.

Bear was non-judgmental in the best way. His eyes watched her closely and every time she mentioned John's name, his ears perked up and his tail wagged. Amazing how Bear had bonded with John so quickly! But then again, John was an amazingly compassionate and caring man. She was sure that animals were able to pick up on it. Plus, she felt like she and John had bonded just as fast after their first auspicious meeting, his head in her lap after he jumped through her car window. They'd both resisted the attraction for months but neither was strong enough to resist the other for longer. And now that bond was in jeopardy and it was stretching her ability to lock down the emotional side of that bond and let loose the lethal side of herself to deal with this threat to her happiness.

Feeling calmer and much more able to handle things, Elise pulled into the garage under the library. Getting out of the car she left the keys in the ignition since the library was secure. Letting Bear out the other side, she realized she was going to have to 'introduce' Bear to Harold. This was going to prove quite interesting because Finch did not strike her as the 'dog-loving' type. Getting into the elevator, Bear was eager and ready to go wherever she led. So far he had followed all of her commands perfectly. Despite the fact that he was a big dog, he'd been trained to protect and trained well. For the first time, she found herself wishing they'd tried to find out more about who his previous owner was. Instead, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to themselves, they'd gone back to the house. Along the way, John had taught her a few commands in Dutch as they walked along the beach. She found herself smiling for a moment as she rode up to the second floor, a quick jab of pain as she remembered John laughing at her pronunciation. Closing her eyes for a moment, she willed that part of herself behind the locked door of her sanity.

Opening her eyes as the elevator came to a stop, she gave Bear the command to stay. As the doors opened she took a deep breath and stepped out, not seeing Harold immediately. She called Bear to her and walked toward the area that John called 'HQ'. She could hear muted voices talking and Bear immediately went on alert and moved closer to her, almost taking the lead. Grabbing his collar, Elise walked through the door into the room that she'd first seen when John had brought her here to recover from her gunshot wound the night they'd met. Shaking her head side to side, she knew she had to stop associating everything with the two of them; it was getting her nowhere and was getting in the way of working to get John back.

Taking a deep breath and shutting down the screaming in the back of her mind that threatened to overwhelm her, Elise held her head up, put on her 'let's do the job' expression and walked into the room. A small smile appeared on her face for a moment upon seeing the array of people in front of her who were willing to go to battle for John: Harold, Zoe, Joss and Lionel...all the people that John held dear were gathered together. There WAS strength in numbers and strangely, comfort.

They were all huddled around Harold who was typing away on his computer. Information was streaming on three different monitors. Finch was keeping his eye on the door, waiting for Elise to appear. His security system had alerted him that she was in the garage. Catching sight of her standing in the doorway, Harold stood up and said "Miss Tate...Elise. I'm glad you made it back to the city safely."

Zoe looked up when Harold spoke and gave a small gasp. Elise looked so small, pale and in pain standing in the doorway. Her dark blue eyes looked too large for her face and the shadows under eyes gave her a haunted look. Hurrying around the desk, Zoe stopped in front of Elise and looked closely at her. Elise met her gaze unflinchingly, saying everything Zoe needed to know, without words. They'd been friends long enough to know that as much as she wanted to hug Elise, it would be the wrong thing to do.

"Elise..." Zoe said with a question in her voice.

"Zoe." answered Elise in a surprisingly normal voice.

A low growl could be heard behind Elise as Zoe took another step towards her. Turning around, Elise spoke the command to stay to Bear. She knew she had to bring Bear in, but was concerned about him meeting so many new people all at once.

Hearing the growl, Zoe backed up a couple of steps and looked at Elise with a frown on her face. Looking behind Elise she could just make out the silhouette of a dog or maybe even a wolf judging by the menacing growl. It was big, no matter what it was.

"What is that?" asked Zoe with a raised eyebrow.

"This is a new friend that John and I made while we were...away." Trying to keep her voice neutral was harder than she thought it would be. "He's a Belgian Malonois. He's well trained but only responds to Dutch commands. John..." her voice almost cracked, but she regained control of herself and continued, "….taught me a few words in Dutch and so far he's been good at following my commands."

Giving the command to Bear to 'come', Bear came out of the shadows and sat down next to Elise. Ears straight up, he was taking in every sound and smell his nose twitching with all the new and different scents, eyes intensely following any movement. Scratching him behind the ears Elise used the Dutch word for 'friend' and gestured to Zoe and the others. She knew her accent was terrible and hoped that Bear was smart enough to understand.

Carter came around the desk and stopped about five feet in front of Elise and Bear. Serving two tours in Afghanistan, she was familiar with the military dogs and their training. Repeating Elise's word for 'friend' but with the correct accent, Bear's tail made a slow wag.

Elise looked up at Joss with renewed admiration. She should have known that Joss Carter would recognize the type of dog Bear was and how to speak to him. Relief swept through her, knowing that someone else was able to also 'speak' to Bear. After being introduced to everybody, Elise once again gestured to Bear to stay so she could go check out what Harold had found out about that woman who'd taken John.

Using a version of Carter's access codes, Harold had been able to hack into the FBI data base to pull the information that Carter had been looking at earlier in the day. Leaning in, Elise was impressed with the background information on Stanton. By reading and rereading every entry, she was getting a good picture of the woman who had waltzed in and taken John out of her life. She was impressed with Stanton's history in the Marine Corp. She could see why John would be drawn...closing her eyes for a moment, Elise slammed the door shut on that line of thinking and continued to evaluate the information as the picture of Kara Stanton became clearer.

Everybody was offering different opinions of what Stanton was up to and why she took John. No one would actually say out loud about WHY he had left with her, telling no one in the process. There was a huge amount of available information but nothing recent or anything pointing them in a specific direction. That part truly concerned Harold. He was still trying to figure out how Stanton had been 'invisible' to his Machine. He really needed some peace and quiet to figure that part out. He felt it would be the KEY to finding out what Kara Stanton wanted with her ex-partner.

"I still don't know why John didn't tell you I spoke to Mark Snow and that woman. At least I'm assuming that's who it was." said Carter. "I gave him Snow's ID badge. I asked what was going on..."

The rest of her sentence was cut short by Elise grabbing her by the arm. "What did you say? You knew this woman was here? You told JOHN?" Elise said through clinched teeth, glaring at Carter.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on Elise! I thought he'd told you and Finch! I wasn't hiding anything! I didn't know he hadn't told either of you until I mentioned it to Harold this morning!" She spoke soothingly while rubbing her arm "Look, I know you are upset. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I really thought he would have told you, considering who she is...or was, to him."

"No, he didn't." Whispered Elise as she turned away. It was getting harder and harder to keep up the facade of being in control. This new information only made it worse. Bear, sensing her distress, whined from his spot by door, but did not move. Looking at Bear brought tears to her eyes. She needed to get out of here. Just for a little while. Turning back toward Harold, she saw they were all looking back at the monitors and the information trickling in from all the different sources. Only Zoe made eye contact with her. Nodding her head towards the hall, Zoe started walking toward it. Elise met her half way.

"Elise, why don't you go to John's apartment..." seeing the pained look in her eyes, Zoe back tracked and amended her suggestions, "or go to my place and take a shower and relax for a few. Nothing is going to happen today and hopefully not tonight. John hasn't even been missing…um, gone for 24 hours yet. Whatever this woman has planned, she's going to have to convince John to help her and I don't think that's going to happen very quickly."

Pressing her key into Elise's hand, she said "I'll tell everybody where you are. You're as close as your phone after all." Zoe smiled at Elise. Elise just nodded and stepping around Zoe, she turned and left, taking Bear with her.

Back down in the garage, Bear jumped back into the front seat and Elise climbed in and shut the door. Gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white Elise stared out over the hood of the black Porsche.

"Where are you John? Talk to me...help me find you. I know you, I know how you mind works, talk to me." Turning the car on, she slowly drove out on to the street and headed straight to Zoe's apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Living in a high rent area of NYC had its perks and Zoe Morgan had lots of perks: private parking for her car and space for another, private entrance to the penthouse apartment. As their joint business had really taken off since their association with Harold Finch, Zoe had moved to this new location a couple of months ago. Elise had only been here once but remembered it being beautiful, sophisticated and secure. Zoe hadn't said that Bear couldn't come, so Elise brought him right along with her. All she had with her was one small bag and the 20 lb. bag of dog food she'd picked up on her way out of town. Bear had to be really hungry by now.

Making herself at home in the guest bedroom, Elise fed Bear and took a shower. Washing her hair did make her feel somewhat better. Her mind felt clearer. She wrapped her hair in a towel and put on a big fluffy bathrobe that had been hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Elise smiled. It was like Zoe had prepared this guest room just for her. There was even a laptop for her to use. Signing in, she sent Harold an email to let him know where she was and that she was available anytime he found something he thought she needed to see.

A knock on the door caught Elise by surprise. She didn't think Zoe ever had anybody come here; she always met clients away from her home. Walking over, Elise used the security camera to see who was at the door. Seeing who it was, she unlocked the door and threw herself into Grace's waiting arms.

* * *

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Harold along with Zoe, Carter and Fusco tried to work out a plan as to who was going to tackle what in the search for John. A many pronged attack was going to be their best choice to cover so many possibilities. Thank goodness Carter had access, limited as it was being a new agent, to the FBI files. That alone would save Finch an immeasurable amount of time. Fusco could handle watching the police blotter for anything out of the ordinary. Zoe still had her contacts in the underworld who may have heard something useful.

After another hour they felt they had exhausted every scenario they could come up with for the moment. The unknown factor of Stanton made any move almost a shot in the dark. She obviously had an agenda and needed John to complete it. But what WAS that agenda and was she working alone or for someone? Saying good night, Carter and Fusco left the library with the promise to check in if anything at all showed up.

Zoe was packing up her things, ready to get home to Elise, when Harold called her name.

"Ms. Morgan… " he began.

"Harold, you promised to call me Zoe. We've been through too much together, professionally and personally, to stand on formality." She said with a smile.

"Quite right Ms. Mor...um… Zoe. My apologies. I wanted to thank you for opening your home to Elise." Looking surprised that he knew about that, Zoe raised one perfectly arched eye brow and looked at him, waiting for his explanation. "I saw the two of you talking and I knew she would not be able to handle going home alone to John's loft. It was a perfect and logical thing to do. You are a very good friend to her. She needs her friends right now. I'm very worried about her. We need her and her specialized skills, to find and ...um, retrieve John. I don't want to say rescue because that implies that he is helpless. And I don't believe that for a second."

"I think you are right to be concerned about her, Harold. I know I am. She's been on her own for most of her life. Very self-contained, very hard and very, very lonely. She finally opened herself up to John and let him in. She's not handling his abduction well at all. I really want to get home to her, but I'm not sure what I can do for her." Zoe sighed.

"That's why I took the presumptuous move and called Grace and asked her to go see Elise. They've become very close after their experience with the kidnapping and… torture." Finch said the last with a catch in his voice. Whenever he spoke of that time, he couldn't help reliving the ordeal and seeing the condition that Grace and especially Elise, were in when they'd been rescued. But he'd also watched the closeness grow between Elise and Grace and felt that Grace was the perfect person for Elise right now.

"If it is ok with you, I'll be by to pick up Grace in a little while. There are some things I need to take care of before I call it a night."

"Not a problem Harold. Grace is welcome to stay as long as you both think she needs to." Zoe said goodbye, picked up her things and left the library.

* * *

Harold sat with his hands in his lap for a few moments, trying to get his thoughts in order. He was very much disturbed by the fact that Stanton had survived and had been living somewhere while he'd had no knowledge of it. Why had The Machine not seen her? Had it hidden her from him? He honestly couldn't remember if he'd ever actually sent an inquiry to The Machine about Stanton. He had assumed, like everyone in the CIA, that she'd died in the firestorm she called down on herself and Reese. He realized he needed to tweak The Machine in order to obtain more info about Stanton and to teach it what should look for. He felt that Stanton would be making a move soon, not necessarily her main objective, but to test how much control she actually had over John. Bending to the computers once more, he concentrated on the job at hand and began to rapidly type commands into the computer.

* * *

Zoe let herself into the apartment and was met at the door by Bear. Ears up, tail down and slightly wagging...but effectively barring her way further into the apartment. Remembering the word that Carter had used for friend, she did a pretty good job of pronouncing the word and held her hand out and down for Bear to sniff. He immediately seemed to remember her and her apartment smelled like her, so she passed the 'test'.

Walking down the hall, she paused outside the guest bedroom and looked in. Grace was sitting on the side of the bed and Elise was curled up under the covers. Zoe could just make out her dark hair fanned out on the pillow and the side of her face. Careful to stay as quiet as possible she stepped into the room. Grace was softly stroking Elise's hair and murmuring something too low for Zoe to hear.

Grace looked up at Zoe's approach and held her finger to her lips. Looking over Grace's shoulder, Zoe could finally see Elise's face. It was obvious that she'd been crying, and crying quite a bit. Her eyes, even thought they were closed, were swollen. Even as she watched, a tear slid out from under one eye and dropped to the pillow. Her heart hurt terribly for her friend. She knew how deeply Elise was feeling the pain and loss because she'd only seen her cry one other time since they had met, when Elise had told her about her boyfriend dying in her arms at the Prom and about losing her partner in HRT.

Grace stood up and motioned Zoe to follow her out of the room. Carefully closing the door, she watched as Bear walked to the side of Elise's bed, sniffed her once, and lay down on the floor next to her. No one would harm Elise with Bear on guard.

Walking back into the living room, Grace turned and hugged Zoe. They held onto each other, each needing the strength of the other to help them help Elise.

Stepping apart, Zoe said "Harold will be by to get you soon. He had some things he wanted to check out before he left." Grace nodded, knowing that Harold would be working overtime to try and find John.

* * *

Harold found himself hesitating before he hit the 'enter' key. He was doing something to The Machine that he'd promised himself never to do…altering its program to suit HIS needs. He was piggy-backing on the government's inquiry mode to make one small program change. Part of him was horrified that he'd even considered this, another part of him was urging him to hurry and get the altered program working as soon as possible.

What was he doing? Was the need for help from The Machine worth breaking all the protocols he'd instituted when he agreed to build The Machine? Finding out there was information out there, that he needed to know but which had not been readily given to him, had unsettled him. He'd been so confident in his creation, of what it could do, what it would do, that he'd never considered what it may NOT do. It was performing just like he'd programmed it, never wavering. But finding out that Stanton did survive the bombing on Ordos when he'd been monitoring John Reese, surprised him. She'd been a major player in John's life since he'd joined the CIA and Harold thought The Machine would have reported her surviving.

From what he'd been able to figure out, he'd not asked The Machine outright to verify Stanton as alive or dead so it told him neither. He'd assumed she'd died, the CIA final report showed Stanton and Reese dead by friendly fire, which was why it was not publicly reported. His only interest at that time was Reese and apparently had Stanton slipped under his radar. Being a man of detail, it disturbed him that he had not pursued verification of her death. But now when he specifically ASKED for information on her, the information flowed freely.

And now he was about to change the program slightly, not enough for the government to notice, but enough to get the information he needed. Breaking his own 'golden rule' was not something he was comfortable with but he felt he had no other choice. Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, he hit the enter key.

While The Machine absorbed the new program and processed the change, Harold went to work on the same problem but from a different angle. Using the date, time and location information that Carter had told him about her meeting with Snow, Harold began his search for the meet so that he could perhaps find a pattern. Because the 'bomb scare' was public knowledge he was able to access a great deal of information very quickly. But what he was searching for would come from the security cameras. Now that he was actively 'searching' for Snow, thanks to the new program, Finch found him in the security feeds very quickly. He also was able to pick up Carter.

Typing in some more commands, the monitor changed aspects and actually 'followed' Snow into the basement area and he was able to see Carter following him. There were two cameras down in the area where Snow and Carter had stopped and were talking. Watching Snow open his shirt and show the bomb vest caused Harold hit the pause button. Adjusting his glasses on his nose, he leaned closer to the monitor to get a better look at the vest. Clearing up the image he was able to tell it was a very sophisticated looking bomb, possibly remotely controlled. Releasing the pause he watched the rest of the security feed, up to and including the shots being fired and the lights being shot out. Watching the shadows of Snow and Carter seek shelter, Harold became aware of a blur in the direction that the shots were coming from. Using a couple of different programs to lighten and clean up the video he tried to increase the resolution but the blur would not come into focus.

The lack of clarity on the security feed was disturbing and very telling. Harold had developed two of the clarity programs used by the government's spy agency, the CIA. They could clear up an image from military satellites tens of thousands of miles in space, so that they could film encampments in North Africa showing how many new terrorists were being trained. But it too could not clear up the blur. He could tell there was a person, but he could not tell if that person was male or female. The more he zoomed in, the more clicks he used with the mouse, the more the image blurred. He was certain the shots came from this individual but his inability to get a good view of the shooter was frustrating. There was something more going on here than simply a bad camera angle or the condition of the camera, but what was it?

The Machine came back on-line with the information gathered thanks to his program change. He'd asked The Machine to 'find' Stanton. There were definite gaps in the information he was being given. Not because it was being withheld but because there seemed to be times that the Machine had lost track of Stanton. It couldn't 'see' her; it couldn't locate her. Watching the video information being provided, Harold was able to track Stanton from the time she'd re-entered the US, about four months ago until this morning, or was it yesterday now?; when she'd popped back up on the security cameras in grocery store where she'd grabbed John. And that brought up another set of problems. Why could he see her in the grocery store security feed but not in any others? Worrying about the inconsistency of the video, Harold rolled the problem around in his mind. There was something he was missing. Why could he see her in a grocery store but not down in that tunnel where Snow and Carter were fired upon?

"OF COURSE! Of course! That's GOT to be it!" Harold almost yelled as he brought his hand down hard on the armrest of the chair. Leaning back toward the monitor he began to type furiously into the computer, gathering info about the grocery store and its security system. Somehow, his ability to see Stanton and then NOT see Stanton was going to be the key to finding John. Sitting back in the chair, Harold waited patiently to see if he was correct. As soon as the information was verified, Harold leaned back in and read the information displayed. The security camera in the grocery story was analog, the one in the basement with Snow and Carter was digital. Whatever was blocking the image of Stanton only worked on digital cameras not the older analog ones.

Now that he knew what to look for, it was going to be a lot easier to find Stanton. But first, they needed to get Snow and bring him in. Harold felt that whatever knowledge Snow had about the woman and her agenda, all of it would be a huge help in finding Reese and bringing him home.

* * *

Grace and Zoe were busy themselves, having a meeting of the minds. They knew each other through John and Elise but not that all that well. Each held a certain part of Elise close to their hearts. Talking about their mutual concerns about the young woman they both loved, they began to forge a stronger bond. Each gave up a little of 'their' Elise to the other, helping to paint a more complete picture of the fragile piece of pure steel that they both knew and loved.

Both felt that Elise would use this down time to give into the emotional pain she was feeling. And it was best done in private. Elise was not one to show weakness in herself in front of anyone. They were also in agreement that this would be a one-time occurrence, necessary for Elise to come to grips with what had happened to John and what would she would need to do to get him back.

Sharing time together over drinks, Grace with tea and Zoe with a Manhattan up, they got to know each other better. They found out, despite being as different as they were, Grace being more down to earth and Zoe more worldly, that they liked each other. Mutual respect would be the bedrock of this new friendship.

At about midnight, Grace realized that Harold would not be coming anytime soon, that he must be working on something concerning John. She knew Harold well enough to know that he would not leave until he found or fixed whatever he was working on. Zoe brought out blankets, sheets and a pillow for Grace to use on the couch, since Elise was in the only guest room. Zoe had offered to share her room with Grace but Grace declined. She felt that Harold would still come for her, no matter what the time and she'd rather be in the living room so she could hear him and not wake the others. Zoe reluctantly agreed and hugged Grace good night.

Walking by the guest room door, Zoe opened it so she could check on Elise. She was immediately met with a low growl as Bear stood up when the doorknob began turning. Once he saw her, his tail began to wag but he did not leave the side of the bed where Elise lay sleeping. Elise looked very small and delicate curled up in the king size bed. Her hair was spread out on the pillow like a black veil, and she barely made a bump under the covers. But she seemed to be sleeping ok. Zoe held her finger to her lips and smiled at Bear and slowly shut the door.

* * *

Knocking quietly on the door to Zoe's penthouse, Harold was more than anxious for someone to let him in. He felt he was onto something and needed to share what he'd found immediately. A sleepy Grace looked at the security camera and saw that it was Harold outside the door. Unlocking it, she opened the door and stepped into Harold's welcoming arms. Each of them knowing how horrible it would be if they'd lost each other like Elise had lost John. It had them embracing longer and harder than normal.

Harold finally shut the door behind him and walked into the living room with Grace, hand-in-hand. Seeing the blanket and pillow on the sofa, he realized that the women had been asleep. He was sorry to have woken Grace but he really needed to talk to her, Zoe and Elise.

"Nononononono…" Elise thrashed around in the bed. Images of John dead or dying flashed through her mind. The empty feeling of great loss made it difficult to breathe. She could see John, but he was just out of her reach. Then suddenly he was lying dead in a pool of blood. She was holding him in her arms as his life's blood spilled out and all over her. The images were getting worse, relentless in the pain that was being driven deep into her body. The feeling of helplessness was the worst, of not being able to do anything to save John.

It was the sensation of her tears being licked off her face by a soft tongue that brought her awake. Bear's face was right next to hers. With a low whimper, deep in his throat, he was trying to comfort her in her obvious distress. Reaching over and hugging the big dog, Elise fully woke from the dark place in her dreams. Bear pulled away and faced the door, obviously hearing voices. A low growl emanated from him as he placed himself between Elise and the door.

Listening closely, Elise recognized Grace's and Harold's voices. Then she heard a door open and heard Zoe's voice as well. Harold must have found out something! That's why he's here! Throwing back the covers, Elise scrambled out of bed, almost tripping over Bear who had not relaxed his protective stance. "It's ok Bear, 'friend'", she said in her own version of Dutch. Thank God he seemed to understand what she was saying because he visibly relaxed.

Throwing a sweatshirt over her clothes, she opened the door motioning for Bear to stay. Walking barefoot into the living room, Elise found Harold, Grace and Zoe talking in low voices. Harold noticed her first and broke away to reach her before she got very far into the room.

"Elise..." was all Harold was able to say before Elise threw her arms around him. Hugging him tightly, Elise closed her eyes and felt a measure of peace. Not being used to physical contact with anyone but Grace, Harold was caught off guard but recovered quickly enough to look over at Grace who motioned him to hug Elise back.

"I'm so sorry" murmured Harold. "So very sorry I wasn't able to warn you about Ms. Stanton's presence and the danger she represented."

"I know Harold, I know." Elise mumbled as she held onto Finch. Pulling back she looked Harold in the eyes, searching for the answer she hoped he'd uncovered. There was something there, something that was going to help. "What did you find Harold?" she asked him quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

John woke early the next morning and upon getting out of the bathtub, he took the time to slowly stretch all of his muscles. For the first time, he wondered if he was getting too old for this kind of thing and then he remembered all the physical gymnastics he and Elise had been engaged in and he put that thought to rest. If he could do all of that, he could do this job for at least a few more years. But thinking about Elise had put a serious damper on his mood. He took a deep breath and removed the chair. The sooner he got this job done, the sooner he'd be able to get back to her.

Kara was already up, sitting on the bed in front of the TV and sipping coffee. She looked at him and grinned as she watched him shuffle over to the coffee pot in the room.

"How did you sleep? Not too comfortable was it?" He just threw her a cross look.

"I DID offer you the bed." She continued, obviously delighted with the chance to play the innocent, 'I told you so' card.

"Cut the crap, Kara. I'm not in the mood." Asking himself, not for the first time, what had ever possessed him to take her as a lover. "So, what's the plan today? You said you knew several tech companies that do work for the government?" He asked, impatient to get down to work.

"Yes. I think we should infiltrate a few of those over the next day or so. But first I have something for you." She got up and pulled out a small vial from her bag. "They'll be trying to track us once Mark catches on to what we're doing. We need to avoid that happening before we're ready to take him on. Come here." She told him, walking into the bathroom. He followed, curious as to how she was going to keep them from being detected by the all the resources the CIA could bring to bear in the search.

She positioned him next to the sink and before he could even react, she'd sliced him on the upper arm, making a small incision about half an inch wide.

"What the hell Kara?!" He exclaimed.

"Hold still. You've been hurt worse. I know; I patched you up." She opened the vial and using a pair of tweezers, she took out a small metal object that reminded him a bit of a computer chip. She then inserted it into the incision just under the skin. "This special RFID chip will jam all of their tracking technology. You'll truly be a ghost to them when you've got this in your person." She turned so that he could see a similar scar on her arm. Judging by the healed condition, she obviously had had hers for quite some time. She closed up the edges of the wound and secured it with a large bandage she'd pulled out of her pocket. While John was very nervous about having anything in his person that SHE'D put there, he had to admit if it really worked it would come in handy. They wouldn't have to waste as much time avoiding security this way.

"Where did you get these?" He asked, curious as to how she was able to get ahold of a technology he was pretty sure Mark would kill for. Or anyone else from The Company for that matter since the technology was intended to confound their surveillance capabilities.

"Sorry John, but you really don't want to know." His eyebrows rose at her answer. He was curious, but if anyone would know about how this technology worked, it was Harold. Once he got out of this, he would make sure that Harold had the chance to examine it.

"I'm going to go out and pick up some spare clothes." He told her.

"No need." She answered with a smile and opened the small closet door next to the bathroom. Inside were three suits and white shirts along with an unopened package of boxer briefs.

"Um, thanks." He said, surprised. He probably shouldn't be. Kara was excellent at planning all the small details of an operation. "I'm going to get cleaned up and then I'll go out and get us something while you shower."

She gave him a strange look but then her faced closed down so quickly, he was wondering if he'd just imagined it. "Alright."

He cleaned up quickly and grabbing his wallet, he left to get some breakfast for them. Once he reached the small coffee shop, he paused in the act of ordering, dismayed as he realized that he'd remembered exactly how Kara liked her coffee and what she usually preferred for breakfast.

"Hey buddy, you gonna order or what?" A short, balding man asked in a broad New York accent. John shook himself out of his reverie and finished ordering. As he walked back, he pondered just how easily he'd slipped back into the routine he and Kara had followed for years. He was only now realizing just how hard it was to run from his past.

* * *

As the sun slowly rose outside the windows, Harold explained his theories about how he might be able to find out exactly where Stanton might be at any given time.

"I wish I knew how she was doing this." Harold complained for the fourth time. "I should have seen this coming!" Grace leaned over and patted his shoulder.

"None of us saw this coming Harold and you need to stop beating yourself up over this. It won't help us get John back." Harold covered her hand on his shoulder with one of his own and looked up at Grace perched on the arm of the couch next to him, giving her a small smile.

"Yes, you're quite right my dear, I just…."

"So Harold, now that we can find Stanton, what are we doing sitting around here?" Elise interrupted and rose to her feet, cracking her knuckles and making a move towards the door.

"Hold on Ms. Tate…Elise. If we rush into this without knowing what Stanton's motive is in all this and she slips away, we risk tipping her off and not having any idea where to look for her next."

Elise growled, "She WON'T be slipping away Harold." Her eyes narrowed and all three of them could see the dangerous, predatory look in Elise's eyes.

"Nevertheless, I think we need to know her plans before we can proceed with our own." Harold returned.

"You want me to leave John in the hands of that psychopath? For even a minute longer than I have to?" Her voice rose shrilly on the last sentence. "You've got to be kidding me Finch. I wouldn't leave Bear in her hands for even that long and I'm certainly not going to leave John behind either!" While Elise's voice was hard, they all watched as she swiped away the tears from her eyes with one hand.

"Elise…" Zoe walked up and took one of Elise's hands in her own. "Harold's right. I know you want John back but we might only get one shot at this."

Elise turned to look at Zoe, "But…..John….he needs me! He was there for me when…..I mean I can't just…" The trickle of tears became a full-fledged torrent. "I WON'T LEAVE HIM!" She cried in an agonized voice.

"Sweetheart, John wouldn't want you to rush into a dangerous situation without knowing as much as possible." Grace spoke to her softly. "He'd want you to find out all you could so that you can both be together at the end of this." Elise hung her head in defeat for a moment, knowing they were right but…

Her head rose and she looked directly at Harold. "Finch, you've come to be one of the best friends I've ever had….but if John is hurt…or…." She couldn't finish the sentence as a sob escaped her. "If this delay results in John being hurt, I'm not sure that I'll be able to remain friends. I just thought you should know that up front."

Harold nodded, noticing that she'd stopped calling him by his first name. "Fair enough Elise." He answered her, trying to hide the pain in his eyes that her words had created.

* * *

He and Kara sat outside what looked like an innocent office building…people coming and going… and for the most part the building was. It was what could be found on the 15th floor that had brought them here today though. This was the third NOC that they had discovered and like the previous two, the intention was to break in drawing as much attention as possible to their presence and then getting out. Things had almost gone south at the last place, mainly due to its location within a warehouse. They'd been unable to penetrate the place very far before shooters on the catwalks above had made the going too dangerous. John was in fact surprised when Kara shot a guy who had his rifle pointed right at John's back. It would have been a kill shot for sure had Kara not intervened and her actions had him a bit puzzled. He'd initial thought that Kara had killed the sniper so that John could help her in 'making noise' when breaking into the NOCs but sitting outside the third one, John began to have doubts. Kara _could_ be doing this alone, luring Snow out by herself, he realized. So why did she need him? What was her play here?

He had to push those thoughts aside though as they exited the vehicle and walked into the building. Once more they took the elevator up to the top floor and in a hail of gunfire they destroyed the place, leaving several witnesses to confirm their identity to Mark. John noticed that on the way out, Kara pried something out of a nearby laptop and shoved it in her coat pocket. He made a mental note to determine just what it was that had interested Kara so much.

They had no sooner arrived at the car when Kara began laughing. "Wow John! Tell me you missed this! Whew! That was some destruction we just brought down, I could do this all day!"

John couldn't stand the egotistical maniac that was Kara Stanton for even a minute longer. The fact that she could take such joy when endangering others repulsed him and he reached for the door, intending to get out and take a walk. Where, he didn't know or care, just so long as it was away from _her_! Suddenly the sound of a gun being cocked reached his ears.

"And where do you think you're going John? You wouldn't want to leave me all alone here, would you? No, we can't have that. I think it's best if we stick together. Besides, Snow is out there looking for us, we…" She never got to finish her sentence. With lightening quick moves, he turned and disarmed her, pushing his forearm up against her throat, leaning in and cutting off her air.

"Don't you dare tell me where I can and can't go Kara." He leaned in and captured her eyes with his, letting all the anger and disgust he had for her show in his face. Meanwhile, she was clawing at his arm in an attempt to remove it so she could breathe. "I'm not your trained dog! I will do what I want and when I want." He pulled back suddenly and she doubled over in her seat, gasping for air. "Now, I'm going to go for a walk. I'll meet you back at the hotel."

Kara looked up at him and for a second, he thought he saw a look of pure hatred distort her features. It was gone in an instant, replaced by a small smirk. "Oh…John, I forgot….to mention…one little thing. That RFID chip in your arm...it contains a small but lethal dose of cyanide and if I don't send a signal from my remote every two hours….well I suppose you get the idea. Oh and I wouldn't recommend trying to remove it, without the proper code, the cyanide capsule will break before you can get it out." She gave him a twisted look of triumph. "So, have a good walk, John, but don't stay away from me too long, or….."

John made a sound of revulsion but otherwise remained as stoic as usual. Inside though, he was one mass of anger, turmoil and death. He should have known that Kara would twist something that appeared beneficial into something that benefited only her. He got out of the car and didn't hold back when closing the car door behind him. The crash of metal hitting metal was a very small comfort to him in his state of fury.

* * *

"So how do you propose to find out what Stanton is up to, Harold?" Zoe filled the awkward silence that Elise's words and brought down on them all.

"Well Zoe, we know that Ms. Stanton at one time held Agent Snow in a similar manner I believe, to the one she's currently employing with John. It stands to reason that Agent Snow _must_ have some idea what she's up to. Locating the man should not prove to be very difficult, however getting him to divulge what he knows may prove to be more so."

"He'll talk." Elise spoke in a clipped, hard tone of voice.

"Indeed." Harold nodded in acknowledgement of what she was implying. "I will go back to the library and use my resources to locate Agent Snow and call you when I've located him."

"No way Finch. I'm coming with you. I don't want to waste any more time." Elise argued harshly.

"Elise, this may take me a bit of time…." Harold looked to Grace in helping him convince Elise.

Grace stepped up and spoke to her in a soft but determined voice. "Elise, you haven't eaten in at least a day." She tried to argue logically. Of course Elise didn't appreciate her efforts and was shaking her head at Grace. "Elise!" Grace spoke a bit more firmly. "You MUST eat. If you don't, you're risking having your body fail you just when John needs you the most. Now, Harold will go to the library to locate Agent Snow and then send the car back for you. In the meantime Zoe and I will make you something to eat. When you're done, you can go right to the car, no need to worry about getting a taxi in rush hour or any of that nonsense."

Elise nodded her head in defeat, wishing she didn't have to acknowledge that Grace was correct. Her eyes didn't miss Grace making shooing motions in Harold's direction but she stood where she was until he'd left.

"Why don't you go take a shower Elise, while Grace and I fix you something?"

"No. I want to eat quickly and be ready for the car when it arrives."

Grace and Zoe exchanged looks but knew that the concession of staying to eat was the only one they'd be getting out of Elise, at least for now. Within thirty minutes, Elise was on her way to the library having choked down as much food as she could manage under the watchful eyes of her two very worried friends.

* * *

John wandered aimlessly, trying to get his emotions under control. He knew if he couldn't, if the anger took over, he'd be blinded by it and Kara could and would take instant advantage of that. For at least half an hour, John walked blindly forward, his eyes unseeing, his legs moving without thought. Finally he felt he was calm enough and he focused on his surroundings. Without realizing it, he'd been drawn in the direction of the library and he could see before him the solid stone edifice. The library had always functioned as a place of safety and connection for him so he was not really surprised to find himself outside, wishing he dared take advantage of that comfort once more.

And then, as he'd secretly hoped, he saw _her_ coming out of the back entrance along with the dog they'd adopted on the beach. He was shocked to see the change in her, a change that had come about in only the last two days. She moved slowly and deliberately as if she was afraid of a misstep, afraid that if she fell, she wouldn't be able to get back up again. Her hair that beautiful black, softness that he loved to feel, was hanging down on the sides of her face, the rest pulled back in a messy knot on her head. But even more startling were her eyes. The skin around them had a bruised look to it while her eyelids were red and swollen. His heart almost broke looking at her, knowing the woman he loved more than life itself was hurting, hurting badly…..and it was all _his_ fault. He would rather have ripped his heart from his chest than see her this way. He took an involuntary step towards her but stopped just before he called out to her, wishing to end the pain she was in. He knew he couldn't go to her now, no matter how badly he wanted to. He couldn't endanger her life by drawing attention to her and her importance to him. He watched as she reached down to slowly pet Bear on the head. Even from his vantage point in the shadows several feet away, he could see the tear roll down her cheek. It was more than he could bear, he turned and slowly shuffled away, determined to end this thing as soon as possible so that he could come back to her, so that he could ease her pain and return her back to the determined, vibrant woman he knew and loved.

If he'd stuck around a minute later though, he would have seen Elise visibly draw herself together back to a functioning person. Determination replaced the sadness on her face and she walked across the street, listening to Harold's instructions in her ear, never realizing that that which she desired most, that which she was seeking as hard as she could, had been only feet away.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Following Finch's instructions being whispered in her ear, Elise was closing in on the spot that they both agreed Snow would be found. The abandoned building seemed to be a perfect location for Snow to work out of. Being in an industrial area, there were no houses. Foot traffic was practically non-existent and the only vehicles were delivery trucks coming and going with their daily deliveries. Anyone approaching the building would be noted immediately from any of the many windows.

Having Bear with her gave Elise a renewed sense of intent. Snow was going to be the key to understanding Stanton. And understanding Stanton would lead them to…._him_. She could barely think his name much less speak it aloud without the pain threatening to take over. They had to know what it was that Stanton was going to do and figure out what she needed John for before they could predict where she and John might be.

Snow seemed to be the weakest link in the entire equation. He had not done any actual field work in a several years as far as they could tell. From the information that Finch had been able to gather, Snow had been a controller. He controlled the handlers who controlled the dangerous, killer 'weapons'… those agents who did anything and everything required to get the job done and did it without question. Finch and Elise knew that John had been such a weapon in the service of the CIA, a killer drone to be released whenever and wherever his superiors deemed necessary. And Stanton had been his mentor, his partner, but ultimately his handler. He followed her orders. Maybe she still had some sort of hold over him? A hold so tight that when she said 'Come' he'd followed, no questions asked, no messages left behind. Or maybe there was more to their relationship...

NO! Elise mentally slapped herself for even letting that thought slip through. She had to concentrate on the job at hand, not let her mind run wild with unfounded speculations. She felt a cold nose rub against her fist holding the leash; Bear had obviously sensed her tension. Relaxing her white knuckled grip on the leash, Elise scratched him behind the ears and whispered 'Thanks Bear, I needed that'.

Using Harold's handy dandy 'dis-arm any alarm' device, Elise shut the alarm off but only on the door in front of her. Opening it quietly and listening intently, she heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing and Bear's panting. Stepping through door, Elise let Bear pass her. She gave the command and knowing what was required of him, Bear set to work checking the premises. The task took him all of five minutes before he returned to her and sat down on his haunches. She immediately praised him and gave him a treat as a reward. Knowing the building was empty and secure now made Elise's job so much easier.

Telling Bear to stay and guard the door, she reset the alarm and made her way towards the front of the building and the only other door. With the alarm in place and Bear guarding the back door, she felt confident she would have Snow well in hand shortly. Finch had been able to track Snow to this location but was not quite sure _when_ he might return. Several hours passed and Elise was getting antsy and anxious as time was ticking away. Like any 'kidnapping', the first day is the most crucial and it had already been 36 hours since John had gone missing!

Settling into yet another spot she felt was secure, she found a comfortable position to wait for Snow. From what Carter had told her about Bear's training, he would sit and guard until she called him or 'released' him. She was so glad that Carter was familiar with the type of training Bear had been given. And she was especially glad for the help with the Dutch commands. She and John had not had that much time with Bear for her to learn more than the commands for sit, stay, and come and her accent was horrible. Thinking of _him_ with Bear made her heart hurt. Biting hard down on her bottom lip she snapped her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

Elise heard the alarm turn off just before Snow walked into the warehouse. Glancing over towards where Bear was waiting in the shadows, she was pleased to see that Bear had not moved nor made his presence known. He was the perfect backup.

Walking into the warehouse, he panned around with his gun and a flashlight. Things must have met with his satisfaction because he turned off the flashlight and lowered his gun to return it to its holster. That was when Elise made her move. Lighting fast reflexes and adrenaline fueled her body and she was on Snow in a second. Kicking his gun out of his hand, she grabbed his other hand and pulled it up tight behind his back before he knew what had happened. Being smaller than Snow, Elise used surprise and her CQC skills to quickly take him down. Sitting astride him with her gun pointed up under his chin, she quickly checked him for any other weapons. Finding none, she stood up and stood over a very surprised Snow as he lay on the floor.

"Agent Mark Snow I presume." said Elise through clenched teeth as she chambered a round in her Glock. In the quiet of the warehouse the noise was deafening and certainly got his attention.

"Who the hell are you?" He demanded. Even with a gun pointed at his head, he still didn't think he was in much danger. All he could see was a smallish woman with a gun who'd gotten 'lucky' and surprised him. He must be losing his touch or maybe he was thinking too much about Kara to have not heard her coming. Either way, he'd take care of this problem and move onto the job at hand, trying to catch that woman before she could implement her insane plot.

A smile twitched on Elise's lips. She and Finch had come up with a couple of different scenarios for her when she finally got a hold of Snow. As best they had been able to ascertain, Snow had no idea who she was or what she meant to John. That was definitely in their favor. They wanted him to think they were after Stanton and if possible, avoid even mentioning John.

"Let's just say I'm a concerned third party," she said with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

* * *

John made it back to the hotel in plenty of time and it was a good thing he did because Kara was nowhere to be found. He sat down on the bed and silently cursed the woman. He tried to decide what he would do if she didn't show up in time. He got up, pacing back and forth. The anger that had subsided before he'd seen Elise, rose to the surface once more. He _thought_ that Kara would return before the time was up. After all, she still needed him to take out Mark but he wasn't 100% sure and that made him furious. He hated it when he wasn't in control, when he had to do what someone else told him to do. He'd had enough of that in the CIA to last him a life time. And now, to be back at Kara's beck and call, he felt like he was back in that dark time, like he hadn't been able to climb out of that hole after all. Harold had found him, had given him a job, a purpose and John thought he'd moved beyond that man who'd been a contract killer, who'd done what he was told without question. And then he'd met Elise and he was sure he had. The man that had committed all those murders, albeit government sanctioned ones, could never have felt what he felt for her. She was his whole life now and he would do anything, go anywhere for her should she ask.

'Then how the hell had he ended up here?' He railed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a key turning in the lock. He immediately reached back and grabbed his gun, training it on the door. Kara's dark head appeared and it took all of his control not to pull the trigger. If he wasn't so determined to get rid of the threat that was Snow, he honestly couldn't say that he wouldn't have shot her and been done with this entire mess.

"Where the hell have you been?" He snarled at her, reluctantly lowering his gun.

"Well hello to you too, John. Did you miss me?" Kara simpered. "Perhaps you're finally remembering how good we were together?"

"Whatever, Kara. It was only ever sex between us. Lonely, empty sex and don't you forget it!" He turned and stormed off into the bathroom. He needed a hot shower to work out some of the tension in his muscles. He slammed the door behind him or he would have seen the grin spreading across her face and immediately been on his guard.

* * *

"A what?" Snow said as he slowly got up off the floor. Any further movement was halted by the gun now trained on his head. Holding his hands out in front of him he tried to get a more accurate picture of the woman standing in front of him while appearing harmless. Not very tall, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail or something. Dark clothing…seemed to know how to handle a gun….didn't seem nervous at all. Rather calm and definitely cold and calculating, he thought. There obviously was more to this woman than he'd originally realized.

"What do you want with me? How do you know my name?" Snow questioned as a means of buying time so that he could decide how best to take the woman down.

"Doesn't really matter….Mark." She spat out his first name, mockingly, as if daring him to try anything. "I just want some information from you." Elise said quietly, never relaxing her grip on her Glock. It had been a while since she had done any work like this. It felt good to have her gun in her hand. She'd enjoyed the adrenalin rush she got when she put Snow on the floor. She missed her job! The ghost of a smile flickered across her face at the thought.

At that moment the sound of something falling came from behind her, too late she realized it was a piece of the roof jarred loose as a large and heavy truck rumbled by. Her attention wavered from Snow for the merest second and he was on her. Grabbing her gun arm he forced her arm straight up so the gun was pointing at the ceiling. He wasn't a lot taller than Elise but he had enough height on her that he lifted her off her feet. With his other hand he tried to grab her but missed. Her feet made quick contact with his knees and he let out a groan, but held tight to her gun arm. Using his free hand he grabbed Elise by the neck and began to squeeze tight. Elise lashed out with both feet but made contact with air. Her free hand groped for his face, trying to reach his eyes but to no avail. The weight of her body was adding to the choke hold he had on her neck and she was gasping for air. Knowing she was about to pass out, she used the last air she had and barked out to Bear 'Attack' in Dutch.

Bear had been watching from the other end of the warehouse, whining quietly as he waited for the command to attack. Hearing it, he was in full stride attack mode almost by the time Elise finished saying the word. Launching himself at Snow he knocked him to the ground. As Snow's hands released Elise who'd fallen next to him, Bear growled deep in his chest and bit down hard on Snow's arm. Screaming in pain Snow tried to get away from the four-legged tornado that was trying to rip his arm off. But once Bear had a hold of him, nothing would make him let go except a command from Elise.

Lying on the floor almost under Snow, Elise was gasping for breath, trying to get air back into her oxygen starved lungs and clear her head. Pushing him away from her she became aware that Bear was still holding him down. Scrambling back away from Bear and Snow she rubbed her neck and tried to calm her breathing. Once she felt in control she gave Bear the command to release Snow but to be on guard. Bear immediately let go of the man's arm and sat back on his haunches. Snow hugged his bloody arm to his chest. Bear had bitten through the overcoat sleeve and the suit jacket sleeve and drawn blood.

Crawling over to where her gun had been dropped, Elise pointed it back at Snow and said in a chilling voice, "That wasn't very nice, Mark. Now, where were we?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

John undressed quickly and turned up the water to the hottest temperature he could stand. He stood under the torrent, head hanging, letting the water slide down his neck, shoulders and back. He knew he had to move this thing along; that his patience would only be able to be stretched so thin by Kara and her insane and delusional thoughts. And the image of Elise, distressed and alone, was burned into his mind. If he'd had his way he would have strode right up to her, grabbed her in his arms and kissed her senseless right there in the street. Once her eyes had lost their sadness, he would have scooped her up in his arms, moving back to the library behind her, all without breaking their kiss. He would have kicked the door, allowing him to walk in with Elise still in his arms and once they were inside, he would have let her body slide down his, her soft curves a stark contrast to the hard planes of his body. His hands would have roamed over her body, releasing it from the confines of her clothes and then lifted her up, pushed her against the wall and buried himself in her warm, welcoming embrace…. His hands reached down and he grabbed his erection, closing his eyes and dreaming that it was _her_. That it was _her_ hand stroking him slowly at first and then, gradually…..

The door to the shower slid open and a naked Kara immediately stepped in. "Ah! So I was right, lover. You DO remember how good we were together." She licked her lips and reached for him. "Let me do that for you, Baby."

He quickly slapped her hand away and spoke in a low, frigid voice. "This wasn't _because_ of you _or meant _for you. Now get the hell out of here, NOW!"

She made no move to go and instead pouted. "Oh, no need to continue to deny it my love. Come here and let me help you release some of that tension. A nice hard fuck would do wonders for you."

" . . .WAY." He bit off each word, ready to do whatever it took to get the hell out of there. When she moved too slow for him, he roughly pushed her up against the wall and for a brief second, he saw the ghost of a smile and a gloat of triumph in her eyes as she thought he was finally giving in and was going to fuck her senseless. The gloat turned to anger though as he pushed past her and exited the shower.

"What John, do you think you're too good for me now?" She spat out venomously. "Or is it that black-haired bitch I saw you with? What the hell can she give you? She's just a child! You need a REAL woman!"

John wanted to yell at her to shut her mouth or he'd shut her up….permanently. But if he revealed that he cared about Elise at all, he'd be giving Kara another hold over him and she already had too many. So praying to himself, may God and Elise forgive him, he spoke. "She's nothing but a passing fancy." He spit out. "But I wouldn't touch you if you were the last person on Earth. How many times do I have to tell you? WE ARE OVER!" He gave her one last, sharp look and left the room, wrapping a towel around himself. He put on a set of lounge pants Kara had supplied him with and lay down on the bed, trying to empty his mind and calm his riotous, angry thoughts. He couldn't afford them now and he knew from experience that that path led only to darkness. Instead he pulled up memories of Elise and wrapped himself in the brightness that her love had brought into his life. Seconds later, his breath evened out and he relaxed into sleep.

* * *

"Who the HELL are you? What do you want from me? What are you doing with a military trained attack dog?" Snow almost yelled. Clenching his teeth against the pain in his arm, he glared at Elise with loathing. Being taken down by a woman? With the help of that demon dog?! "And how do you know my name?"

Smiling slightly, Elise tried to clear her bruised throat. Her voice came out raspy. "There are some people that want to talk to you. They told me where you were, so I came and got you. End of explanation." She whispered. Standing up slowly, she listened carefully to make sure there were no more sounds coming from outside. Everything seemed to be quiet. The one working light in the warehouse was concentrated where she and Snow were and couldn't be seen from outside. Obviously Snow had changed the locks so anybody trying to get in would need a locksmith.

Seeing the blood on Snow's arm, Elise looked around for something to wrap it with. Last thing she needed was for Snow's blood to leave a goddamned trail when they left. Giving Bear the command to guard, she went looking. She found a disgusting smelling bathroom with an old canvas towel on a cylinder. It was old enough that it ripped off easily and she took it back to Snow.

"Here, wrap up. We've got somewhere to be."

Wrapping the dirty towel around his arm, Snow was looking for an escape but his eyes came back to the dog's eyes. They never left his face. He felt like the dog could read his mind! Even when that damn woman spoke to the dog, his eyes never left Snow. Just his ears swiveled to listen to her. He didn't think he'd try anything with that dog around. But he'd keep looking for the right opportunity.

Motioning Snow toward the back of the warehouse, Elise told him to move and move quickly. It still hurt her throat to speak. Bear was right behind Snow, literally on his heels.

Locking the warehouse behind her, Elise felt confident they had left nothing behind to show that SHE had been there. She didn't know and she didn't CARE if anyone knew Snow had been there.

Once again thankful that she had thought ahead, she unlocked Finch's town car and waited for Snow get in the back seat. Once he was in, Elise used a cable tie to tie his hands together. She was taking no chances. Snow was or had been a CIA agent and she knew what John was capable of, so better safe than sorry, she thought. Then she smiled. Walking around to the other side of the car, she called Bear to her, opened the back door and motioned Bear to get in. Snow shrank against the opposite side of the car, trying to get as far away as possible from Bear.

"Don't leave that animal back here with me! He'll smell my blood! He'll attack me again!" Snow almost shrieked.

Leaning into the car, Elise smiled and said in her raspy voice, "No, he won't attack you unless I tell him to OR if you make a threatening move towards me. Understand? You'll be perfectly safe if you sit there and behave."

Shutting the door to walk around to the driver's side Elise was positively grinning. She liked working with Bear! No arguments! He did what he was told, when he was told to do it. Not like working with John who questioned everything she said and did. Thinking of John wiped the smile off her face and made her heart ache.

Getting in the front seat, she started up the big Lincoln. Touching her ear she waited for Harold to pick up.

* * *

John subconsciously registered the fact that Kara had come out of the bathroom and then climbed in bed next to him. He woke and his body tensed but as she didn't make any moves toward him, he lay where he was.

"I'll leave you alone now, John." She whispered quietly, obviously aware that he was awake even though the room was engulfed in total darkness. "You've made yourself clear." She cleared her throat, almost as if she was holding back tears. "Tomorrow we'll do our last job before setting the trap for Mark and then you'll be done and….and you can go…." She even sounded as if she was sniffling, damn it! "You can go and you'll never have to see me again."

He told himself he would NOT feel bad about it if she was unhappy. She was as cold-blooded as they came but….but he had once cared for her. More than she had cared for him, but once upon a time…

"Good night, Kara." He spoke and for the first time his words carried no rancor, no anger.

"Good night, John." She replied softly and for once, the darkness that had always hidden him, had always held him safe, betrayed him, also hiding the triumphant, cruel smile of the woman in the bed next to him.

* * *

"Ms. Tate! Elise! Are you ok? Why did you turn off you phone? You had all of us very ...um... wondering what was going on." Finch's voice trailed off in her ear. Smiling to herself over the obvious concern that she heard in Harold's voice, she closed her eyes for a moment to let the feeling of love for this man wash over her. He knew her so well. He'd let her know he was worried but held himself in check by remembering her training and background...there was a good reason she had gone silent and he trusted her reasons.

"I'm good Harold. I got him with a minimal amount of damage." She said in a husky voice. Snow's grip on her throat had apparently done more damage than she'd thought but she didn't let it bother her. She'd go through that and more if it meant getting John back safe and sound.

"Damage? What damage? To Whom? You or Agent Snow?" Came Harold's quick, worried query.

"I'm fine. Snow will live. Bear took him down and gave him something to remember him by." She answered. "Am I still to take him to the safe house as we discussed?" She asked as she backed the Lincoln out. The big, shiny, black car stood out in this neighborhood of rundown warehouses. She had taken great care to park it out of sight.

"Yes Elise. Take him to the second safe house we discussed. I'll have Detectives Carter and Fusco meet you there in just a few hours, as soon as their respective shifts are over. We don't want them to do anything that might raise the suspicions of their superiors. May I suggest you blindfold him? I'd really prefer that he not know where the safe house is. He is technically our enemy." instructed Finch.

"Think I'll use one of his own 'CIA black hoods', that way he'll feel right at home." Laughed Elise, which immediately made her throat hurt worse. "I'll be there in about an hour. Talk later." Touching her ear again, she disconnected from Harold. Glancing in the review mirror, Elise grinned from ear to ear. Snow was as far away as possible from Bear and Bear just sat there staring at Snow from the other side of the car. Snow was obviously terrified of Bear which surprised her since she thought he'd be more familiar with the training these dogs obtained. There was no way that Bear would attack unprovoked. Then again, perhaps Snow's ignorance would be a good thing. It certainly was making him more biddable.

Pulling over to the curb once they were back in a safer part of the city, Elise reached over and grabbed something off the front seat as she got out. Opening the door on Snow's side, she quickly threw the hood over Snow's head before he could react. Elise then pushed him over in the seat so his head was right under Bear. Snow frantically tried to get away from where he knew Bear was but Elise pulled her gun and pressed the barrel up under his chin.

"Stop fighting. Just lay there quietly and Bear won't bite you again, do you understand me?"

Not waiting for answer, she shut the back door and climbed back into the driver's seat. Now, without Snow being able to tell where they were going, she could make good time out of the city.

* * *

An hour later, Elise pulled into the garage. She waited until the garage door came down, blocking any view of the outside, before she cut the engine. Snow had been very quiet during their drive, as near as she could tell. She'd played the radio loudly to cover any outside noises so Snow wouldn't have any references as to where they were.

Knowledge was the weapon of choice in this scenario. They wanted to learn as much as possible from Snow, without giving up any information themselves. He already knew Carter. Knew she was an NYPD cop. He probably did not know she was on loan to the FBI. He apparently knew nothing about Elise nor her relationship to John. All of which should work in their favor.

Opening the back door, she saw that Snow was still lying on his side with his head under Bear. Bear had been drooling and dripping right on the black hood over Snow's head, but Snow had not moved. Shaking her head to help wipe the grin off of her face, Elise finally regained control.

"Alright Agent Snow, you can sit up now." Snow slowly sat up but didn't try to do anything else. Taking pity on him, Elise pulled him out of the car and then removed the hood. Blinking his eyes at the returning brightness after wearing the hood, Snow immediately took in his surroundings. A frown quickly appeared when he realized he was in a garage and that there were no windows.

"Bear, come." Elise called to Bear in her still raspy voice. Bear pushed his way past Snow to get out of the car. Snow shrank back against the car, again trying to keep as far away as possible from the dog.

Prodding Snow with her gun, she motioned for him to go into the house through the connecting door. Snow would only have access to the interior rooms in the safe house. He was to be kept away from any windows where he could possibly get his bearings and determine where he was. His need for information would be paramount but they were going to give him little to none. They had already discussed that this would be how they would handle Snow. She pushed him ahead and took him to a room that had a couch, a chair and a small table in it. She waited until he'd sat down on the couch before seating herself at the table and placing her weapon on it without removing her hand. She waited to see how long it would be before Snow plucked up the courage to ask what was going on.

After twenty minutes of silence, Snow cleared his throat and asked, "Why are we here?" He didn't bother to ask where they were; they both knew she'd never tell him.

"What Mark? Are you anxious to leave me?" She laughed but without any real humor and the smile didn't reach her eyes. "And here I thought we were becoming friends."

Another twenty minutes passed before he spoke again. "Can I at least wash this bite out? How about some aspirin? I'm in a lot of pain here."

"Hmm…. seems they don't train you CIA boys in pain management anymore." She mocked. "I'm beginning to think all those stories I heard about how stoic you boys were under duress were all exaggerations…." Snow's eyes burned with anger and hatred and she smiled inside when she saw it. It was all part of the plan to knock Snow off-base, make him more vulnerable to the next part. And she couldn't believe he was falling for it! She let her contempt show in her eyes, trying to goad him into more anger.

"…..but as they say, seeing is believing." He moved to get up and lunge at her, despite the fact that his hands were still tied but a warning growl from Bear had him backing down immediately. She snorted and his hollow, blazing eyes moved to her but he remained silent for the next few hours. Elise simply stared at him, not backing down at all with her gaze until he finally lowered his eyes and eased himself down on the couch. And they waited….


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

As was his habit, John woke early and found Kara still asleep beside him. He couldn't help but wish it was Elise's warm, comforting body he was waking up to rather than the cold-blooded Kara. He climbed out of bed as quickly as possible and began to dress as Kara stirred in the bed. She sat up and the sheet that had covered her prone form, slipped down to reveal her state of undress. John quickly averted his eyes, knowing in his heart that Kara had done it on purpose. She still hadn't accepted that he didn't want her and while John knew he was faithful in his heart and mind, he still felt guilty not only because he caught quick glimpse of a naked woman that wasn't Elise but that he'd slept in the same bed with her. He resolved that if they didn't figure out a way to get rid of Snow by the end of the day, he would break contact with Kara and go it alone. But he kept the resolution to himself; he suffered no delusions about Kara's reaction to his plan to leave her. She would not take his desertion lying down and would most likely do anything in her power to get him to stay, perhaps up to and including wounding him. With today's upcoming op, it was a chance he could not afford to take.

As Kara rose from the bed, she made sure to strut by him, completely nude, on her way to the bathroom. Her blatant attempt to interest him disgusted him and moved to the door, mumbling that he was going to go get some coffee for them both. Kara's mocking laughter followed him out the door.

* * *

Several hours later, the noise of the garage door opening and closing caused the two occupants of the house to stir and Elise nudged Snow into a standing position, moving them further into the house. Coming into a dining room, a voice they'd heard speaking low and softly stopped. Fully furnished, there was a large dining room table with six chairs, a china cabinet with a full set of china and sideboard with a coffee pot and coffee cups. Seated in one chair was Carter; she'd been talking to someone, probably Finch, on the phone. Feeling the buzz in her pocket where she kept her phone, Elise touched her ear to answer.

"Elise, I'm glad you made it to the house safely. Detective Carter will be able to hear both of us via her ear bud. We're all in sync. Agent Snow is not supposed to know I'm listening."

Motioning for Snow to sit down, Elise tucked her gun into the back of her belt. Nodding to Carter she said nothing. Reaching over she unwrapped his arm where Bear had bit him. It looked pretty bad but the bleeding had stopped and for once, Snow made no complaints. Calling Bear into the room, Elise gave him the command to guard Snow.

Walking to the door, Elise motioned to Carter to follow her, knowing Bear wouldn't allow Snow to move from that chair. Shutting the door to the kitchen, Carter pulled Elise into the light.

"What the hell happened to you? Who did that to you?" she said after seeing the bruising on Elise's neck.

"It's nothing." Elise rasped. Damn it! This was not the time to worry about her throat or her neck, not while John was still out there alone, God knew where and being forced to do God knew what! And with that hussy to boot! The thought was enough to elicit a snarl from Elise.

"Did Snow do that? John is NOT going to like that ...at all." Carter warned.

"Then don't tell him!" whispered Elise with a glare.

"Fine, you deal with John after we get him back!" said an exasperated Carter. Seeing the look on Elise's face, she reached out and grabbed both of Elise's arms and said, "We WILL get him back. You know that, right?" Not trusting herself to speak, Elise just nodded.

"Elise! Joss! We need to take care of the matter at hand, immediately. We need whatever information we can get from Agent Snow about Kara Stanton. I have my suspicions about what her goal is, but I'd like it confirmed before we act." An anxious sounding Finch spoke to them through their ear buds. Looking at each other, an unspoken connection gripped the two women as they set about reaching their common goal: getting John home safe.

"We hear you Finch; we're ready to get what we need from Snow." Carter said, as she gave a small smile to Elise. Turning around she walked back into the dining room where Bear was sitting two feet in front of a very uncomfortable Snow. Bear never took his eyes off of Snow but one ear turned back as Carter came into the room. Giving Bear the command to stand down, Carter walked over and had a seat across the table from Snow. Visibly relieved to not be alone with Bear, Snow carefully placed his injured arm on the table.

Elise searched the kitchen, came up with some basic first aid supplies and walked back to the dining room. Placing the items on the table next to Snow, she turned and went back into the kitchen. Keeping her mind as blank as possible, Elise concentrated on finding a bowl and filling it with warm water. Gathering up some dishtowels she made her way back to the dining room. Sitting down next to him, she began to clean up Bear's 'take down' bite. The bite was clean and had probably bled out most of the possible germs. Using various antiseptic ointments in the kit, she felt reasonably certainly everything would be fine.

Snow watched as Elise bent over his arm and cleaned and bandaged him. He also took note of the bruising on her throat where he'd grabbed her earlier. He had a very uncomfortable feeling that those marks, getting darker as he watched, were going to come back to haunt him.

Carter sat there and said nothing, just watched Elise tend to the bite wounds and watched Snow watching Elise. Carter could tell the moment he saw the bruises on Elise's neck. His reaction, even though he covered it quickly, was plain to see. She might be able to use that reaction later she thought.

"So, Agent Snow," she began, "we meet again. Although I don't think this conversation will end quite the way our last one did."

Looking up from watching Elise who was ignoring the conversation, Snow answered "Only because she doesn't know where I am...just like I don't know where I am." Snow said defensively. "And I don't know who SHE is….", motioning with his head toward Elise "…..her and her demon dog. He almost killed me."

Elise looked up at the mention of Bear and smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes and she said nothing. As she finished wrapping up his arm, she stood up, nodded at Carter and took the first aid things back to the kitchen.

"Now that we have gotten through the pleasantries, let's get down to business. Where have you been and what have you been doing since we both escaped that shoot out in the basement?" Carter asked hands folded and deceptively calm. Watching Snow glance at the kitchen door and then back at Bear laying quietly by the hallway door, Carter knew they had a tactical advantage over Snow. He was off balance and had no prior knowledge of Elise, Bear or their connection to John. He'd obviously given Elise some grudging respect and was now very wary of her.

Trying to decide the best approach, Carter noticed that he was not the same confident, cocky CIA agent she'd first met. He was nervous, uncertain about just what was going on and did not bother to hide the fact, a weakness she doubted he would have shown before this. She decided to keep him off balance.

Keeping things formal, Carter tried again, "Agent Snow, tell me about Agent Stanton." That simple question caused a profound reaction in Snow before he was able to cover up his surprise. Stanton had kept herself so deep under the radar he had begun to believe she really WAS invisible.

Good, thought Carter, she liked having the upper hand with him and forcing him to wonder just what she knew. At the same time, she knew she also had to make sure he didn't know how little they actually _did_ know. They knew Stanton was involved and knew it was something major, but the particulars were still unclear.

Trying to decide which way to play this was causing Snow to begin to sweat. The fact that she knew about Stanton spoke volumes about the type of surveillance these people had access to. Lying about her would be futile. Realizing his best bet was to come clean, Snow spilled his guts.

* * *

"We are on our way to the most secure NOC yet," Kara told him as they drove into downtown Manhattan. "We won't be able to just waltz in this time and get everyone's attention."

"Then what are you proposing here Kara?" John asked.

"We need to pose as partners. I have some cloned ID cards here that will allow us access to the building but we need to play this cool, act normal, until we get inside and upstairs."

"If this place is so dangerous, why are we bothering? Don't you think that we already have Mark's attention? Why take unnecessary risks?" He questioned.

Kara shook her head and said "Tsk, tsk, John. Haven't you learned to see the bigger picture yet? I thought I'd taught you better than this! If we show Mark that we CAN get into a place like this, he'll be afraid that we can get into ANY place we want and that fear will lead him to make a mistake."

John didn't answer but looked out the window and thought, 'You may have taught me all that YOU know Kara Stanton, but you haven't taught me everything that** I** know. After this is over, we'll see if I can teach YOU a thing or two…'

Looking away from her, he failed to miss the smirk Kara had on her face as she thought she had John right where she wanted him.

* * *

Two hours later Carter had enough information to make her fear for the world in general and John in particular. She had become so engrossed in Snow and the information he was giving her, she had lost track of Elise. Looking around for her, she was concerned when she realized she neither Elise nor Bear were in the room. She couldn't leave Snow alone but she needed to find Elise and talk over the information with Harold. Having Harold in her ear during the interrogation of Snow had been a huge help. He was able to provide her with any technical information to provide a smoke screen to keep Snow from knowing how limited their information was. Surprisingly enough, Snow had no idea that Kara had kidnapped John and it appeared that while he was still hoping to find him, he was not at the moment, actively looking for John.

Not daring to leave Snow alone even for a moment, Carter decided she needed some more back-up and put a call into Fusco. He surprised her by saying he'd be there in less than five minutes. Finch spoke in her ear telling her that he'd contacted Fusco earlier for assistance. Carter shook her head in wonderment, Finch always seemed to be five steps ahead of...well, everyone!

Once Fusco took over guarding Snow, Carter went looking for Elise and Bear. She found them out on the patio in the backyard. Watching them through the glass door she was a little concerned at how quiet Elise had been. She'd said nothing to Snow. She had let Carter, with Finch's prompting, handle the entire interrogation. Carter realized she had no idea when Elise had walked out but she knew Elise had heard everything because they were all synched together.

Approaching closer and making sure to make noise so as to not startle Elise, Carter realized what Elise was doing. She was cleaning her gun. Taking it apart, piece by piece and giving it a detailed going over. That activity gave Carter an idea of Elise's mindset. Carter walked closer to where Elise and Bear were sitting. Bear did not move from Elise's side but he wagged his tail in recognition. Raising her eyes but not her head, Elise looked at her with a bored, neutral expression that surprised Carter…and she continued to clean her gun.

"So, you heard Snow spill his guts. Stanton is crazy and a danger to the world at large." Carter spoke quietly. "He's looking for help to take her down. He thinks she's a loose cannon. If only he knew that she'd taken John after he escaped, he'd be even more worried that she'll continue with her plan. Any thoughts?"

Holding her gun up to the light and sighting down the barrel, Elise said nothing. Methodically cleaning and putting the gun back together, her silence was rather unnerving.

Carter cleared her throat, "So, what are you thinking? Do you have a plan?"

Shoving the clip back into the grip of her gun, Elise chambered a round and then checked to make sure the safety was on. Placing the gun on the picnic table in front of her, she finally looked up at Carter.

"I had to leave the room. I had to get away from ...that poor excuse for a man. The more he talked the more disgusted I became. I remembered what he did to John; he wanted him dead. Almost killed him in fact. And he regrets NOTHING! If I hadn't left when I did, I would have beaten him to death right then and there." Elise said in her still raspy voice. Talking was obviously still painful. Bear picked up on her agitation and let out a low whine. Reaching over, Elise rubbed him behind the ears to ease his tension. The act of stroking the dog seemed to calm her down as well.

Finch's voice came through their ear buds. "Ladies, I think I have enough information to figure out just what Stanton's target will be and why she needs another pair of hands to complete her mission."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"What's the SOP for this mission?" John asked.

"Our standard operating procedures are that we are going to get into the building using these as our cover." Kara took a bag from the backseat and tossed it into his lap. John unzipped it and took out two windbreakers with the words ATF Agent emblazoned on the back and two baseball caps with ATF clearly visible on top. There were also two Kevlar vests at the bottom of the bag. "Once we're in, we'll have to take the elevator to the 21st floor."

"And then?"

"We'll probably run into two Delta force operatives with M4's trained to shoot first if those doors open without authorization."

"Damn it Kara!"

"Aw, come on John tell me didn't you miss this? The two of us working together?" She was in the process of reaching over to put her hand on his thigh when he growled.

"If you're attached to that hand, it better not touch me." He warned her in a low, deadly voice.

Kara just sighed and placed both hands on the steering wheel.

* * *

Finch laid out his thoughts about what he suspected Stanton was going after….a government NOC, located in a downtown building at 780 Mercer. The building directory showed twenty floors but the building plans showed it actually had twenty one. Snow's description fit perfectly. Finch knew it was a very sensitive, invisible government installation. Perfect target for what he believed Stanton was after.

"Elise, you and I need to get there before Ms. Stanton and John. We need physical access to stop anything she may sabotage or anything she may want to steal. Stopping Stanton is our primary objective, not regaining John. You understand that don't you?" Finch asked quietly. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear her voice. He knew she'd do the right thing, but he needed to hear the acceptance in her voice.

"Yes Harold. I do understand that. You have my word." Elise whispered after several long moments of silence. Finch exhaled, not even realizing he'd been holding his breath.

"But once Stanton's mission is compromised and John is safe...I OWN THAT BITCH."

Before Harold could say anything, Elise had disconnected and walked away. Carter was left standing there, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide with disbelief. The look on Elise's face was one she had never seen before. The fact that she had hung up on Harold spoke volumes. She was aware of the close relationship Finch and Elise had but this was a huge departure from that closeness.

"Detective, are you still there?" Finch finally spoke softly in Carter's ear via the earwig.

"Yes, I'm here. Do you want me to go get Elise?" replied Carter.

"No, it's all right. Tell her to meet me at the building within the hour. Can you handle the FBI involvement? I know you are new to the job but we really do need you to run interference for us."

"No problem Finch. I'm on my way now."

Walking back into the dining room, Carter leaned over and spoke to Fusco, "Lionel, I need you to stay here and keep Agent Snow company. We have to leave and take care of some things."

"Sure, no problem. I got nothin' planned for the afternoon." Grimaced Fusco.

Elise met Carter at the front door. Looking like any normal New Yorker bundled up for fall weather, she had on a dark blue sweater that fell loosely to her hips. The light jacket was a perfect cover for the weaponry Carter knew Elise was carrying. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, her blue eyes so dark they were almost black. The seriousness of what they were about to do was written all over her face. Nodding to each other they went to their separate cars and headed downtown to the same location. If they'd only stuck around for another minute, they would have seen Fusco slump to the ground unconscious as Snow hit him over the head with a heavy metal pan.

On the drive back into the city, Elise carefully kept her mind blank except for the mission at hand. She kept her thoughts away from Mark Snow and Kara Stanton. She refused to think of John at all. She was reviewing in her mind what she knew about the security at a NOC. It would be tight, manned by well- trained guards, alert to anything out of the ordinary. She wondered what Harold had in mind to get them up to that phantom 21st floor.

* * *

John watched as Kara entered an access code into the panel in the elevator. It appeared that the elevator only went to the 20th floor but Kara just entered a six digit code and the elevator proceeded upwards. He felt a cold twisting in his stomach but only had a moment to wonder where she'd gotten the intel that included the access code before the elevator doors were sliding open. He hunched down and kneecapped the guards before they fired on Kara and him.

The guards were then bound and gagged and the two of them proceeded further down the corridor. When they encountered the security desk, Kara quickly moved to disconnect any alarms and she removed the video footage of them entering the building.

"Hey, I thought the whole idea was for us to let them know we were here!" John objected. Once more he felt the coldness in the pit of his stomach. He'd learned not to ignore those feelings, had almost been killed the once or twice he had. Something felt wrong here.

"Don't worry about it!" Kara bit off quickly, moving towards another door. "We need to find a room called applied research. What we want will be in there."

"What the hell is going on here Kara?" He made no move to follow her and she spun around, fury in her eyes.

"We are going to leave something for Mark and I won't remind you again that if you don't follow my orders, I'll make sure that cyanide capsule in your arm breaks and you'll be dead in under a minute." She hissed at him. "Now get moving and keep that gun drawn!"

John gave her his own look of rage but continued to follow her deeper into the facility. He realized that once more he'd become a pawn for someone in a game he didn't understand, nor did he want to. He fought to tamp down the ferocious anger he was feeling. He didn't have time for that now but rest assured, when they got out of this place, he would have his reckoning with Kara and he promised himself he'd hold nothing back.

Following Stanton, Reese was surprised to see her checking her phone as often as she was. Obviously she had a map of the building and a purpose in mind, but where was she leading them? That cold feeling in the pit of his stomach was getting colder and heavier. Every sense was on high alert. This did not feel right. There was more going on here than Stanton had told him, more than just a concern about Snow taking them down.

Coming to the door marked Applied Research, they noticed two armed guards. Using the hand signals they'd established long ago, Stanton went low to take out the one closest to them and John stayed upright, going for the one farthest away. Their silencers barked quietly in unison, but the results were quite different. John's target went down, grabbing his knees before moaning and passing out but Stanton's went down bonelessly, shot through the neck.

Quickly rounding the corner, John kicked his target's gun away and grabbed his radio and smashed it before any warning could be sent. Looking over at the other guard, John was surprised to see the vacant eyes staring up at the ceiling and a panting Kara Stanton standing over him.

"Kara, what are we really doing here? Why kill these guards? They are only doing their jobs." asked John in an increasingly harsh tone of voice. All he got in response was a deadly smile from Kara. He'd seen that look too many times, just before she unloaded her gun on someone. He remembered well, how much she got off on killing people, the more personal the hit, the more turned on she was. She was almost quivering with unleashed sexual energy. He had to stop this.

Reaching for her arm, he pulled her back and said "Kara WHAT are we doing? I know it's more than Mark Snow that brought us here!"

Snatching her arm back out of Reese's grip, Stanton turned and glared. Pointing her gun at him she growled. "Touch me again John and I will shoot you. You know I will. I needed you to get me in here. Now, I really don't need you anymore."

Standing face to face with Stanton, Reese could see the see the flames of insanity flickering in her eyes. Had they always been there? Had his feelings for her prevented him from seeing the real Kara Stanton? Or had that damned Ordos mission changed her as drastically as it had changed him?

"Come on, let's get in there before someone checks any cameras I may have missed." Walking into the control room, Stanton saw a lone technician typing furiously at a work station. Earbuds in his ears, he was lost in his music and oblivious to the carnage right outside the door. Pulling the plugs out of his ears, Stanton spun him around in his chair and pointed her gun inches from his nose.

"Be a good boy and point out the upload component for me." She said with a killer smile. Feeling Reese come up behind her, she motioned him with her head toward a bank of servers at the back of the room.

Once he was past her, she knew that it was time to take off the gloves. She knew he suspected something and would make his move soon. He wanted to think that he'd changed but she could still read him like an open book. John couldn't hide the simple honesty that was still a part of him, despite all that she'd done to kill it.

Holding her phone in one hand and pointing her gun at John with the other, she said "Hand over your gun John. Remember I can still remotely release that cyanide chip in your shoulder. I don't want to take a chance that you'll really shoot me this time. I doubt your feelings for me now are anything like they were back in Ordos...you'd shoot me without blinking an eye now. I know you. I know that look on your face. You always were a Boy Scout, even while doing the dirty work, you always had that foolish ideology in the back of your head. Well, our country betrayed us. They deliberately sent us on a mission that we were not supposed to return from. I was to kill you, you were to kill me and then they covered their asses with an air strike to obliterate us from the face of the earth!"

Kara was almost shouting at him now. She was lost in her rage and her need for revenge. John knew now was the time for him to make his move. Bowing his head in defeat, John extended his arm towards Kara with his gun held loosely between two fingers.

Smiling, but without warmth, Stanton laughed, "Really John? Do you really think I'll get close enough to you to take that gun? I know what you know. I know what I taught you. I know what you are capable of. Come no closer to me, just drop it on the floor and kick it away."

Looking back up at Stanton, John fought to keep the revulsion he felt for the woman in front of him hidden. Only it was his eyes that gave him away...they went opaque, no emotion: no hatred, no fear, no loathing...nothing. Kara narrowed hers and for the first time she actually felt a stab of fear seeing that look in John Reese's eyes. But her own rage over came that fear and the caution that might have come with it. "Drop it!" she almost yelled.

Dropping his gun as instructed, John balanced on one foot to kick the gun away. Seeing Stanton's eyes follow the motion of his foot, he knew now was that moment. Launching himself at her, he knocked her to the ground.

Her reaction was automatic, she protected herself and fired her gun, catching Reese in the stomach, below his Kevlar vest. Fighting on the way down, Reese tried to get her gun away before she fired again. He quickly lost feeling in his legs and crumpled to the floor.

The pain was excruciating. Being shot in the stomach was not something new but it had now happened more times than he wanted to think about. Stanton roughly pushed him off of her and scrambling to her knees, she brought the grip of her gun down hard on John's jaw, further stunning him. Standing up and backing away, Stanton made sure she was well outside of John's reach. She looked around wildly, for a moment wishing that she hadn't had to… 'No sense going there.' She thought to herself. She knew at the very beginning of this that she'd have to take him out. Again. She took a deep breath and focused back on the job.

The lab tech stood by a console, pointing at it with a shaking hand. Pulling a small jump drive out of her pocket, Stanton walked over and pushed it into a USB port. Smiling to herself now, she mumbled 'It's done'. Looking up at the scared tech, she told him to sit and not move or she'd make sure he never moved again. She moved closer to John where he lay practically motionless on the floor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Elise felt her body humming in anticipation as the elevator ascended. Here and now, she would finally catch up with that bimbo and get her man back. She could just feel it, his closeness. Either way, that lying, traitorous bitch was going down tonight and this would all be over. She and John could go back to their interrupted lives, once more together as they were meant to be. She took a deep breath just as the elevator doors slid open, her gun trained on the area directly ahead of her while she used the button panel as cover.

The first thing to greet her eyes were two men lying on the floor. They had been immobilized and duct tape was stuck across their mouths to keep them silent. 'Good!' Elise thought; she couldn't be too far behind if these guys hadn't been discovered yet. She glanced down at them as she passed. "Sorry boys, I'd help you out but I have a previous appointment with that bitch that did this to you." Their eyes widened but they remained silent and she proceeded ahead, her gun in hand and her senses on high alert.

Standing over the bleeding Reese, Stanton pulled his arm out of his suit jacket. Rolling him onto his back, she began to unbutton his blood soaked shirt. Once it was undone, she sat back on her heels and looked at John. Still a damn good looking man, she thought. Remembering the numerous trysts throughout their years as partners, a small smile appeared on her face. Reaching over, she patted his cheek with one hand while she pulled out her knife and flicked it open with one touch of the other.

"Nothing personal lover, but I need that chip back."

As his strength ebbed with the loss of his life's blood, all Reese could do was give her a steely blue glare as his lip curled into a snarl. Hatred radiated from him in waves, but he was too weak and powerless to stop her.

Blood continued to flow freely from the damage caused by Stanton's bullet. Pulling his shirt away from his shoulder, she pushed the sleeve of the undershirt up so she could see the bandage she had placed there less than twenty-four hours ago. She'd wondered if he'd make a sound as she manhandled his body but was not surprised when he didn't. Leaning over John, she worked to peel the medical tape off the incision where the chip had been inserted. She was so intent on getting the chip out without damaging it that she was not aware the security door had been quietly opened behind her. And then, at the very last moment, Stanton became aware of a presence behind her but her reaction was not fast enough. An arm reached past her and grabbed her knife hand and whipped her around and onto the floor. Kara felt the bones in her hand crack and the knife slip from her fingers. Kicking out with her legs, she connected with air, not finding her attacker where she'd expected them to be.

In the meantime, Elise let go of Stanton's hand and stepped back, waiting for the woman to get to her feet. She wasn't going to end this quickly. The woman didn't deserve it. Elise wanted her to feel some of the pain that she herself had been feeling the past few days. She knew it was a fault of hers, this desire to take revenge, but tonight she embraced it with all she was worth.

Scrambling, Stanton was finally able to regain her footing, stood up and gasped, "You?!" as she realized who was standing in front of her: John's 'piece of fluff'. 'What the hell? Where did she come from?' Feeling superior to the small woman standing in front of her even with her injured hand, Stanton suddenly lunged at Elise, telegraphing a blow with her injured right hand while her left hand came up from below ready to deliver a devastating blow to Elise's midsection. Elise easily blocked the right hand and the left before landing two solid punches on Stanton's ribs. An audible crack could be heard before she jumped back out of reach. As Stanton leaned over and clutch her ribs, Elise delivered a powerful kick right under Stanton's chin. As Stanton staggered back, Elise let loose every ounce of fury that had built up against the woman who had stolen John and dared to steal their happiness.

Stanton was unable to lift her arms to protect herself and slowly sank to the floor under the onslaught on Elise's cold blooded ferocity. Blow after blow was met with no resistance. One final blow to her head and Stanton fell bonelessly to the floor, unconscious. Standing over Stanton and panting loudly, fists clenched in rage, her dark hair hanging around her in a black cloud, Elise looked like an avenging angel.

Off in the distance Elise could hear a voice calling frantically to her. Slowly coming back to herself, Elise realized she was hearing Finch frantically calling her. Looking around she brought the computer room back into focus. Then she saw John lying in a pool of his own blood, just like her dream. All the air seemed to be sucked out of the room. The roaring in her ears deafened her. Taking a step forward, she again heard Finch calling her.

Looking up and over towards Finch she could see him but she couldn't understand him. Slowly his voice penetrated her stasis, calling to her. She registered that he'd come into the room at some point while she was fighting Stanton and….

"Elise! Elise! I need your help, now!" Looking back at John, she realized his eyes were closed. His face was deathly pale.

"John"…. she whispered.

Hearing her voice as if from a distance, John opened his eyes a looked at Elise…memorizing her face for the last time.

Again Finch called, "ELISE! I need your help now!" Panic sounded stronger in his voice.

Reese took a breath and said, "GO" to Elise. It took almost everything he had to get that one word out. One last try and he was able to gasp out, "Help Finch" and gave up. His eyes closing against his will.

Fighting every impulse she had to go to John, Elise turned to Harold and asked what he needed her to do.

"Sit here, at the terminal. I've already hacked into the system but I need another pair of hands." an exasperated Finch said. He took a seat at the terminal next to Elise's and began to type.

"Stanton wasn't STEALING something, she was uploading something. I can see its trail but I need to stop it or at least slow it down." Mumbled Finch. Sweat appeared on his face. Elise had never seen Harold lose control before, never seen him looked so panicked. Whatever Stanton had done, it must have been bad.

Finch began calling out code to Elise to type in. It took a few minutes but they slowly got in sync with one another. Finch was actually hacking the virus as it grew, stopping the flow from one direction and forcing it into another. Once he closed a loop hole, he needed Elise to seal it off and trap the virus. Finch typed and called out code and Elise typed...over and over again. Both were soon lost in the cyber realm.

Finch was frantically trying to stop the virus and protect The Machine. At the same time he was trying to teach The Machine what to watch out for and how to combat it. He had seen enough of this virus to realize it could jeopardize The Machine itself...make it go dark and unresponsive. Finch could not let anything harm his creation, not one that had already saved countless lives.

Elise locked down everything around her and focused just on the monitor in front of her and the coding that Harold was giving her. She didn't understand everything she was doing but knew enough to complete the moves that Harold needed.

John lay on the floor trying to conserve what strength he had. Lying there with his eyes closed he could hear Harold and Elise typing frantically. He knew it was bad. He'd seen the look on Kara's face when she hit the enter key to upload the virus or whatever it was she'd done to the system. He'd seen that look too many times in the past. And he'd also seen it again these last few days. Kara took pleasure in killing people. And now it sounded like she may have jeopardized The Machine itself.

He couldn't believe that Stanton had fooled him so completely. He had honestly believed they were going after Snow for what he had done to them in Ordos and for his part, to protect Elise. Stanton had used him just as thoroughly as she had used him when they were partners. He still had trouble understanding how their 'business relationship' of being partners, turned into a sex romp after each mission. Doing the job had been a turn on. The adrenalin rush of danger coupled with the thrill of getting the job done unscathed was heady stuff. It had amped up their libidos like a drug that MUST be consumed. Often they would barely make it back to the hotel room before they were stripping each other's clothes off. Sometimes they didn't make it back and had hot rough sex against a wall in an alley somewhere.

Why had he ever thought that was enough? It satisfied his animalistic side, but the sex left him unfulfilled and wanting, _every_ time, his soul still feeling empty. He never knew what to fill that emptiness with.

Until Elise. The way he felt when he was with her, on her, in her...body, mind, and soul...it was the perfection he had been searching for all of his life. What he'd had with Kara, paled in comparison.

Opening his eyes was almost impossible but he HAD to see Elise one more time. Slowly his eyes focused on her and Harold, sitting side by side at a bank of computers. Harold was barking commands at Elise and she seemed to understand what to do and completed each task. She didn't talk, just typed and nodded her head every so often. He could see her long, dark hair flowing down her back. His hands ached to bury themselves in its inky darkness one last time. Watching her reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear, like he loved to do, almost tore out his heart. His eyes closed once more and he almost moaned in pain over what he was losing. Biting his lip for control, he opened his eyes again. Focusing on Elise, he tried to memorize everything about her.

He was so focused on Elise that he almost missed the movement on the floor. The pile of trash on the floor that was Stanton, had begun to move. In horror, John watched Stanton sit up and slowly shake her head. He watched as she looked around and got her bearings. He could tell from her movements that she was in extreme pain. Stanton could take a hit and keep on going, but apparently Elise had done some serious damage during her beat down. Holding her right hand cradled in her left, Stanton struggled to stand up slowly, trying not to draw attention to herself. Elise and Harold were oblivious to anything except the codes running across the monitors in front of them.

John tried to call out to Elise or Harold but he was weaker than he thought. Losing blood as fast as he had been, he was incapable of making a move or calling out. He watched helplessly as Stanton quietly got up and slowly hobbled out of the room. She was obviously in a great deal of pain but still able to move.

Outside the room, Stanton paused to lean against the wall. 'That damn bitch got lucky. I think my wrist is broken and I know I've got some cracked ribs.' She thought angrily. Using the back of her good hand, she rubbed it across her mouth. Dried blood came off. Using her tongue she realized that she had a busted lip and maybe a broken tooth or at least a loose one. Shaking her head over being beat down by another woman and a tiny one at that, Stanton knew there was more to John's 'piece of fluff' than she'd assumed. Rage boiled up in her. Her weapon was back in the room, next to what she hoped was a dead John Reese. Looking down she realized the two men she and Reese had taken down on their way into the control room were still down on the floor. The guy she'd taken out was quite dead but it looked like the one Reese had taken out had only been shot in the kneecap. What a boy scout John had become! Reaching down for the dead guard's gun, she checked the silencer on it and finished the job Reese had started.

Now she had a weapon and she knew exactly what she was going to do. That little bitch was going to pay for what she'd done to her and then she'd get her chip back too. She turned around to re-enter the control room but stopped when she heard the elevator door open. Turning back around with the gun in her hand she was surprised to see Mark Snow walk out into the hall.

With his gun already out and now trained on her, he greeted her. "Hello Kara. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner to join in the fun. Where's John?"

"Hello Mark. Dead I hope, just like you will be shortly." Stanton said with a grimace. She was right handed but she could shoot with her left hand just not as fast or as accurately. Although she knew she looked bad, she hoped Snow couldn't tell how badly she was beat up.

"I see you met John's partner. Little slip of a woman who packs a pretty mean punch," rubbing his own chin in memory of their 'introduction'.

"Well, I'm about to introduce her to the great equalizer." Growled Stanton. Edging backwards return to the control room, she stopped when she heard Mark chamber a round in his Glock. Slowly turning back to him and pointing the gun with her left hand, Stanton eyed Snow coldly. "And just what are you going to do about it? More importantly, why do you CARE what I do about it?"

"Because you're a cold hearted, damaged bitch. You were ready to shoot me as soon as you didn't need me and I'm sure that's why John is dead or dying now. He outlived his usefulness to you. Actually, you're not cold hearted...you are black hearted. Your heart is a withered black ball of hate inside you. You aren't out to help your country or anybody else. You're all about revenge. You do your new master's bidding with no questions asked. Well I've got a question for you...How do you want to die? Quick one to the head or slowly with a gut shot? I'm more than willing to accommodate you either way."

Snow had noticed that Kara was holding the gun in her left hand and saw that her right eye was slowly swelling shut; her mouth looking like someone had kicked her there. Watching her breathe in shallow gasps, he figured she had some broken ribs to go along with her obviously broken right hand or wrist. He was just biding him time, out waiting her. Stanton's agitated state had not gone unnoticed by Snow. He knew she was in extreme pain and trying to hide it. It more or less evened out the odds between them.

Raising his right arm with the gun, he pointed it directly at Stanton's head. Stanton smiled her death head's smile and raised her left hand and pointed the gun at Snow's head.

"Fuck You!" she snarled and pulled the trigger at the same time that Snow did. They both crumpled, the only sound was their guns clattering to the floor. Neither one stirred.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Time seemed to stop for Elise and Harold. There was no real world, only the cyber world of The Machine and the Internet. Harold was gaining on the virus slightly, not much, but hopefully enough to buy some time to figure out what had been done and how to undo it.

Numbers and coding raced across the two monitors they were working on. Elise was almost in a trance, keeping herself focused on the job at hand. Once she felt someone looking at her but steeled herself to keep on task. Harold needed her. Keeping her mind blank she processed every command he gave her to completion. Finally Harold's commands came slower and slower and lost that frantic sound to them. Suddenly Harold went silent. With her hands poised over the keys Elise waited for the next command. Realizing there was no sound coming from him, Elise rested her hands on the keyboard and looked over at him.

He sat with his hands in his lap, his head down and his eyes closed. "Harold? Did we do it? Did we stop it?" she whispered. After all they had gone through, after all she may...MAY have lost, they had to have stopped the virus!

Harold slowly opened his eyes and turned to Elise. "We slowed it down, we didn't kill it," he said quietly with a sigh. "But we may have bought enough time to try and find a way to stop it."

Reaching over Elise grabbed Harold's hand and squeezed it. Returning the gesture with a small smile, Harold looked around until he saw Reese.

"John?" he asked in a hesitant voice. Looking back at Elise he realized she had her back to John on the floor and her eyes were closed as she gripped his hand even harder. "Elise, go to him..."

Taking a deep breath and opening her eyes, she looked at Harold with trepidation, afraid of what she would see if she turned around. "Go to him Elise." Harold repeated.

Moving from the chair to John's side in one swift movement, Elise took everything in: his ashen coloring, shallow breathing, blood seeping between the fingers of his hand covering the bullet wound. The most important thing at the moment though was that she could see he was still alive, he was still breathing. Blood was everywhere but he was breathing. Crouching down beside him, she placed her hand over his, covering the wound. Leaning carefully closer to him she called his name "John...I'm here John, I'm here."

Hearing her voice nearby, Reese stirred slightly and a groan escaped him. He desperately wanted to see her face but could not summon the strength to open his eyes.

Harold stood up and came over to stand over John and Elise. "We've got to get him out of here, now. They cannot find us here."

"We can't move him, Harold! Look at him! I...we...are about to lose him! How do we move him? Where do we even move him to?" Elise's questions trailed off into a whisper.

Still reeling from the furious hacking and coding he had just done, Harold had trouble putting together a coherent thought for a moment. Stepping away from the scene before him, he noticed a body on the ground outside the glass door to the control room. Walking over he found two security men dead...and Stanton and Snow. Stepping back into the room in shock, he shook his head for a moment and then stepped back out and looked around. It was obvious from the positioning of their bodies that Stanton and Snow had taken each other out. Both appeared to be quite dead.

Hearing John's voice in his head he thought, "Good riddance to bad rubbish," he stepped back into the control room and reached for his cell phone.

* * *

Elise knelt all the way down, keeping her hand over John's, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Using her other hand she lovingly brushed his hair back. Seeing the pain etched on his face caused her to gasp. He must be in considerable pain for it to show; he was very good at hiding pain...physical, mental and emotional. This man was her life, her reason for being. They'd only had those three beautiful days and nights together without the ugly world intruding. It was not fair to show them their happiness only to have it taken away so violently! Elise desperately needed to see John's beautiful eyes looking at her. She needed to see them dance in mischief when he teased her, turn steely blue when they were on a job or darken with pleasure as they made love. He was a man of few words but his eyes spoke volumes.

Making a quick call to Carter, Harold enlisted her help and Fusco's in setting up a screen to cover getting Elise and John out of here before any 'outsiders' realized what had transpired here. Then he placed a call to Dr. Tillman, once again for her medical assistance.

Meg Tillman answered her phone after one ring, "Hello Mr. Finch, it's a pleasure to hear from you again...unless our 'mutual friends' are in need of medical assistance?" she asked in her usual direct way. Explaining the situation and what little he could tell of John's wound, he reminded her that discretion was once again of utmost importance.

"From the bullet wound and loss of blood you are describing, he's going to need more than what your 'library hospital' can offer. I run a clinic in an area of the city where gunshot wounds are not uncommon and I tend to not report them because then they would quit coming in for help." Meg said in her calm, quiet voice. "I've got the right equipment there." Giving Harold the address, she hung up to get her supplies ready to meet them.

* * *

Carter and Fusco, who'd been scouring the area for Snow after his escape, were close by when they received Finch's call for assistance. Using the same entry method that Finch and Elise had used, they were in the control room in short order. Using a utility cart they were able to literally man-handle an unconscious Reese out of the control room and into the freight elevator outside the secured area.

Time was fast running out though because the computer tech was due to make his hourly check-in shortly. Harold briefly apologized to the young man as Elise tied his hands behind him and put a blindfold in place. Harold asked that he consider not mentioning their involvement as they had, technically, saved the man's life. "There are two people out in the stairwell that shot each other and they will be blamed for this entire ordeal. Feel free to talk about a third, unknown man whom they had brought with them and then shot. The authorities will think he simply managed to escape." After a few seconds of silence, the young man nodded in agreement.

Seating him at a console, Elise wiped down the desk top and the keyboards for fingerprints. There was nothing to do about John's blood all over the floor. Any attempt to clean it up would call more attention to it. Having four dead bodies outside in the hallway hopefully would occupy any team sent to discover just exactly what happened here.

* * *

Getting an unconscious Reese into Finch's car was no easy feat. It took all of them to lift him from the utility cart into the back seat. Elise climbed in first and helped pull him into the car. The pushing and pulling caused fresh bleeding. Elise was amazed he was still alive.

Holding his head and shoulders close to her as best she could, she applied as much pressure as possible to the wound with her other hand. She was covered in his blood. This was frighteningly close to the nightmare she'd had at Zoe's apartment.

"Please hurry Harold, please." She whispered. Her voice was still husky from the abuse by Snow. Fear now almost robbed her completely of her voice.

Carter leaned in and said, "We'll take care of things here. Let us know about John as soon as you can." And then she carefully pushed John's long legs up into the car and shut the door.

Finch got into the front seat and quickly entered the address for Tillman's Clinic into his GPS. The fewer wrong turns, the faster they would get there. Starting up the big Lincoln, Finch quickly took off down the closest alley to get away from the building and any police units that would be arriving momentarily. Leaving the carnage behind for Carter and Fusco to clean up was something he hated to do but he knew John's life was as stake.

Crooning quietly as she rocked back and forth, Elise pleaded with John to stay with her. She spoke about their time in the house on the beach. The nights they'd spent together, the mornings they had woken up together...trying to give him a reason to stay with her. Every memory brought silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

Finch glanced once in the mirror and his heart tightened at the look of utter desolation on her face. It made him even more determined to get John to safety and get him taken care of. He was amazed at the depth of his own feelings for John. They were friends now, more partners than boss and employee. They both felt they had found each other at the lowest point in each of their lives. John having once told him that if Harold had not found him when he did, John would most certainly be dead now, having taken a more drastic step than drinking himself to death. It was just what Harold had known those many months ago, having seen a mirror image of his own pain in John's eyes. Having saved each other many times since, a bond was forged that neither of them could or would put into words; it was just there. John had risked his very life to rescue him from Root and now Harold was once again speeding through the streets of NYC with a bleeding John Reese in the backseat. Only this time John had Elise to keep him tethered to this world. He hoped to God it was enough.

* * *

Looking around at the run-down store fronts, many with cracked windows, Harold kept looking at the GPS, trying to see if there'd been an error. He knew Meg had told him it was in a 'bad neighborhood' but he'd at least thought it would LOOK like a clinic. Suddenly the door opened at the building just ahead and light spilled out onto the cracked pavement. Meg came striding out to his car and rolling his window down, Finch said, "I assume this is the correct place since you are here. I can see why most of your clients come here for discrete medical attention."

Patting him on the arm, Tillman smiled and picked up on his nervousness at being in this bad part of the city, "I know. The clinic needs to fit into the neighborhood so it's not too obvious when people come to me for help. The fewer people know about their gunshot wounds and knifings, the better. Now, let's get John in here so I can take a look."

Opening the back door, Meg was shocked to see Elise covered in blood and holding onto an unconscious Reese. The stark terror in Elise's eyes pulled at Meg's heart. She remembered seeing that same look on John's face when he thought Elise had died. Reaching around Elise, Meg felt for a pulse. Finding it was a miracle. He was obviously hanging on by a thread and needed help fast. Calling to two young men standing by the door to bring a gurney, she started speaking quietly to Elise, telling her step by step what she was going to do and what she needed her to do.

Harold had gotten out of the driver's seat and stood to the side, his eyes going from John's pale face with his closed eyes to Elise's blood smeared face and dark blue eyes filled with pain. Feeling helpless, all he could do was stand there and watch.

Holding John's head up, Meg coaxed Elise out of the backseat. Two young men reached around and grabbed Reese by the arms and shoulders and pulled him out of the car. An unconscious John Reese was not easy to handle. He was a big man with long arms and legs that were quite boneless in his current state. It took Meg, Elise and the young men to wrestle Reese onto the gurney.

"Harold, I need you to pull that car around the block to the back. We don't need a car like that in front of the clinic; it might scare some people off. I'm sorry to say I can't guarantee what condition you may find it in later."

"Yes, yes of course, I'll move it right now." Quickly getting back in the car, Harold drove it around to the back. There were a couple of men standing out in the alley behind the building. Seeing the very nice car pull up, they all stood there daring the driver to move any closer. Attitude rolled off them like a cloud. Normally Finch would have been afraid to be by himself in this situation but all he could think about right now was John.

Opening the door and getting out, he shut and locked it. Looking at the group in front of him he said, "I brought a friend here who needs Dr. Tillman's help. He needs her help very badly. I'd appreciate it if you didn't interfere with that."

At the mention of Dr. Tillman and her help, the group mumbled among themselves and then slowly parted to let Harold walk to the back door. Pulling it open, he glanced back and he heard a voice from the group say "Hope your friend's ok. Dr. Meg is good people."

* * *

Elise followed Meg and the gurney into the dirty front door of the clinic. Once inside she was comforted by the clean, bright atmosphere inside. You would never know this was here by looking at the outside. Meg directed them to move the gurney into the back examining room. Asking them to hang around, she began to assess Reese's injuries. The amount of blood soaked into his clothing was alarming. Taking a scalpel she began ripping through his shirt and undershirt trying to find the entry wound. She needed help in turning him over far enough to check for an exit wound, which there was not. That was even more worrisome; it meant the bullet was still in him and probably keeping the damaged area from clotting.

Turning around she saw Elise standing by the door. Whatever blood was not soaked into John's clothes, was obviously all over Elise. There was enough blood to cause Meg to ask, "Elise, are you wounded or is all that blood from John?"

Shaking her head slowly from side to side she whispered brokenly, "It's….all his...all his blood".

"Well, I'm glad you're not hurt. Do us both a favor and clean yourself up in the sink over there. I may need you." Turning back to John she began cutting his clothes away from the rest of his body.

Pulling the last shred of John's jacket and shirt and undershirt off, Meg began the process of cleaning him up to see just what she was dealing with. Seeing all the scars on Reese's torso caused her to wonder how he had managed to stay alive this long after the catastrophic injuries he must have sustained over the years. This bullet had entered his stomach below his rib cage and a little to the left. The bleeding had slowed but was still oozing sluggishly. That could be either a result of the wounds clotting or because his blood volume was so low. She remembered his blood type from when she had treated him before and called for a transfusion. She had to get his blood volume back up to keep him from going into full shock; he was border line now.

While removing his shirt and undershirt, Meg had noticed a recent cut on his right shoulder. Amateur looking stitches had closed it up. Rubbing her finger over the scar she was surprised that the incision was relatively fresh and that she felt something hard under his skin. That needed to be checked but not until she took care of that gunshot wound.

Elise moved over to the sink, pushing her sleeves up past her elbows. Doing as she was told, without conscious thought, she turned on the water and reached for the soap. Her mind was blank, a black pit of despair. She knew gunshot wounds first hand. She knew it was bad. The amount of blood loss alone was a telltale sign. Mechanically she washed her hands, washing John's blood off. Watching it go down the drain had a mesmerizing effect on her. Was that John? Was he gone? Would that be the last touch she would ever have of him to be his warm blood on her hands as she tried to hold back the flood?

Turning off the water, her arms clean, at least to the elbows she grabbed a towel to dry off. She steeled herself to turn around, knowing she'd have to face the truth at some point. Was John still with her or was he gone from her life forever? Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst, she turned around toward Dr. Tillman. Opening her eyes, she saw Meg working feverishly at getting John's clothes cut away from the entry wound. Her actions were not that of someone working on a lost cause, but of someone trying to keep someone alive.

Moving toward the table where John lay motionless, Elise refused to look at his face; best to keep this on the 'professional' level if she was to continue to function.

"What do you need?" she whispered to Meg.

"I do believe that all of John's previous injuries have actually helped him with this most current one. Scar tissue, which he has an overabundance of, is more resistant to injury. So when this bullet entered, it was hampered by all the scar tissue not giving way and helped keep the internal damage to a minimum. The entry wound, through the healthy muscle and skin is why there is so much blood.

"Then why is he...why is he unconscious? Why can't he respond to me...us?" whispered Elise as she looked at John's face. Seeing those dark lashes against his very pale face, it was hard to believe he wasn't dead. She needed to see his blue eyes looking back at her. She needed to see that smile that was meant only for her. She needed proof that he was not slipping away from her. Turning her own blue eyes to look at Meg, her voiceless question was plain to see.

"Yes Elise, he will be all right. We've just got to stop this bleeding and get his blood volume back up to a safe level. Come here and you can hand me the instruments."

Seeing the relief flow into Elise's face, Meg returned her focus back to the work at hand. She had told Elise the truth. The multiple gunshot wounds that John had endured were actually going to be the reason he would survive this latest one. Elise walked up to the opposite side of the gurney where Reese lay. Meg began calling for different surgical instruments in a quick, staccato voice. Elise's paramedical training from her time in HRT came flooding back and she quickly and correctly picked up each instrument that Meg called for and placed it in her hand. Between the two of them they made short work of tying off the bleeders from the wound. Meg had already found and removed the bullet and deposited it in a specimen dish. Meg asked Elise to check the flow of the blood and plasma dripping into John's arm. The bag was almost empty and Elise quickly prepared a second bag of blood so it was ready for a quick change over.

The increase in blood volume was having a miraculous effect on John. His color became more normal and his breathing was much deeper and less stressed as his heart didn't have to work as hard to get the blood circulating throughout his body. As Elise observed the changes with relief, John stirred and mumbled something. Elise's eyes flew up to Meg's only to be met with her reassuring smile. Nodding her head, she continued stitching up the wound in John's side.

"John, I'm here John." Elise said in a low voice. John's reaction to her voice was instantaneous. He turned his head toward her and struggled to open his eyes. Elise placed her hand on the side of his face and leaned in and whispered in his ear. A smile slowly appeared on his face as his eyes opened and slowly focused. They remained that way for several minutes, each one gazing on the other's face, lost in the joy of being together once more.

Once the gunshot wound was sutured and the bandage in place, Meg turned her attention back to the incision she had noticed on John's right shoulder. Giving John a local anesthetic, she carefully cut the stitches and excised what she had felt under his skin. John was oblivious to her working on his shoulder. He and Elise were caught up in their own world.

Looking at the small, metal object, Meg felt this was something that Harold needed to see. It looked like a type of computer chip. Maybe that was how Harold kept track of John? The amateur look of the stitches gave her pause. They were not done by a doctor or a nurse and Meg couldn't see Harold subjecting John to this level of ineptitude. If he wanted John to have something like this inserted in his body, he would have made sure it was done right. Cleaning the incision, she bandaged it up and spoke.

"John, do you have any idea what this is?" she asked, holding it up for him to see.

Dragging his eyes away from Elise, John immediately recognized it as the chip that Kara had implanted in him.

"Show that to Harold. He'll want to see it. It's important." John gasped out, pausing to catch his breath. He was still weak from the blood loss but was gaining ground rapidly. "Tell him I'll explain later but he needs to examine it carefully, there is cyanide in there."

* * *

Leaving Elise and John to themselves, Meg cleaned up her instruments, pulled off her gloves and went out into the hall to find Harold. She found him sitting stiffly on a bench in the hall. Knowing his back and neck problems, Meg was concerned about how long he'd been waiting and sitting on that hard bench. Seeing her walk out of the room, Harold struggled to stand up as she approached. His eyes were overly large behind his glasses, desperately seeking good news from her. Smiling at him, Meg held out her hands and grasped Harold's ice cold ones.

"He's fine Harold. He's going to be alright."

Closing his eyes and thanking whatever Powers That Be, he finally exhaled. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath since Dr. Tillman walked out of the room.

"John said to give you this, that it was important; said he'd explain later but to be careful because it contains cyanide." Meg gave Harold a small vial containing the computer chip.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I don't know, but it was implanted in John's shoulder, just under the skin. AND it was done recently. The incision had barely begun to heal."

Holding the vial up to the light, Harold was immediately intrigued. The fact that it had been implanted in John only a few days ago and the fact that it was obviously lethal made it rather obvious as to who had implanted it in John's body. Somehow this had to do with the security cameras being unable to track John and Stanton, he was sure of it. He was eager to talk to John about it but decided that it could wait for at least a few more hours.

"Come on Harold, you look like you could use a cup of tea." said Meg as she tucked Finch's hand under her arm. "Let the two of them have some privacy, I don't think anything else will happen for a little while, right?"

One of Harold's eyebrows rose at the last part of her sentence and Meg gave him a look and they both broke out into laughter. "Ok, as much as I admire John's ability to heal, even HE would find it difficult to…" Her voice trailed off. "Then again, we both know how determined Elise can be."

"Indeed. Shall we get that cup of tea, Meg?"

Tucking the glass vial into his pocket, Harold allowed Dr. Tillman to lead him away from the examination room that held John and Elise. He knew they needed the time to reconnect after being ripped away from each other so abruptly, each worried about the other's safety.

Approaching a common area that contained vending machines, Meg led Harold in and told him to sit. "Doctor's orders." She said with a smile.

There were two other people in the area, one looking relatively clean while the other looked like they'd come fresh off the street. Greeting the dirty one by name, Meg asked how he was doing and was he here for a wound check.

Harold tuned out the conversation and immediately pulled the vial out of his pocket. It contained what looked like some type of micro computer chip…very small and flat. Frowning as he remembered that Meg had said she'd dug it out of John's arm, Finch's mind began running through different theories as to why such a chip would be embedded in John's body. To track him? To control him by pain or threat of death? This had to be connected to what Stanton had uploaded. Harold was lost in thought as different scenarios played out in his mind.

Meg came back to the table carrying two steaming cups of hot liquid. Smiling up at her, Finch thanked her. He needed it so badly he didn't really care if it wasn't Sensha Green. Sipping the hot liquid he felt it refreshing him body, mind and soul. Hot tea was what his body craved. He, like everyone else, had been running on little to no sleep since John had been taken.

Sitting down next to Harold, Meg sipped her coffee, watching him. Her dealings with him had been mainly through John or during the time she'd been called in to save Elise. Seeing the depth of the bond these three people felt for each other made her remember that there was more to life than her job as a doctor. She remembered how they'd almost lost John when he thought Elise had died. Elise, in John's position this time, had held up much better than he had. Then again, she believed that was a woman's nature; to actually be stronger than a man when it came to a physical reaction to an emotional issue. She'd been glad to have Elise help her take care of John after she'd gotten that bullet out. It had made the actual surgery faster and shorter, so there was less stress on him. That, and the fact that John knew Elise was there, were what had pulled him back from the brink so quickly.

"Thank you for what you've done for John." Harold spoke, startling Meg. She'd been off in her own mind, re-evaluating her own priorities. She nodded depreciatively at his words. Maybe it was finally time to relax and get back out among healthy people once more. Maybe she could finally let the loss of her sister go and come back from that dark place. "You know you are always welcome to call me. Anytime when John, Elise or you need something, Mr. Finch"

"Harold, please."

"Harold." she repeated with a smile. "I can never thank John enough from saving me from myself, from keeping me from ruining my own life. How he knew what would happen to me…if I'd followed my plan..." Her voice trailed off, shaking her head slowly side to side. "He's an amazing man." She finished.

"That he is. I feel very lucky to count him as a friend." Harold replied.


End file.
